PyMOL

Ever heard of PyMOL? It’s a powerful, open source molecular visualization tool that’s making waves in the scientific community. Originally created by Warren Lyle Delano, PyMOL started as a commercial product under DeLano Scientific LLC, a company focused on building tools to serve scientists, educators, and researchers around the world. The software is built on pleomorphic analysis methodologies a fancy term for techniques used to study the structure and behavior of molecules, especially in structural biology.

What’s really cool about PyMOL is how widely it’s used today. From NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to top universities like UC Berkeley, researchers rely on it to visualize and analyze complex molecular structures. But it’s not just for biologists astronomers, chemists, pharmaceutical developers, and even computer scientists have adopted PyMOL for their work. The goal from the beginning was to create open source software that could help people study organic and inorganic substances in detail, and it’s safe to say they’ve succeeded.

So, what makes PyMOL stand out? Two things, really. First, it’s genuinely open source and backed by a dedicated team of scientists and engineers. It’s been licensed for use by major organizations like the NIH, DARPA, and the Department of Energy, which speaks to its reliability and versatility. Second, it’s super accessible. Thanks to integration with platforms like the Common Gateway for Educational Software (CAGE), educators and students can easily get their hands on it. Plus, it runs on Windows, Linux, UNIX, and Solaris, so you don’t need high end hardware to use it. Whether you're in a lab, a classroom, or just curious about molecules, PyMOL makes complex science a little more approachable.