Some of us resisted using an orthogonal format for coordinates, arguing that the output from a crystal structure should refer to crystal axes. And since symmetry was a crystal property it was important that we could "see" it easily. The PDB format won out, but I still use coordconv a lot to turn back the orthogonalised PDB style to fractional coordinates - to see if this heavy atom solution is the same as that one, given an origin shift, etc etc. Eleanor
On 4 Jan 2013, at 20:44, Soisson, Stephen M wrote: > I love this footnote from the JMB paper: > > " Requests should be accompanied with a new 2400 ft reel of magnetic tape, > and a check or > purchase order for U.S. $34.30 made to the order of Brookhaven National > Laboratory, to cover > postage and handling. This charge is subject to change in the future." > > -----Original Message----- > From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK] On Behalf Of > Santarsiero, Bernard D. > Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 3:37 PM > To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK > Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Who invented PDB format? > > On Fri, January 4, 2013 2:31 pm, Carter, Charlie wrote: >> While I cannot be sure about the format, the original PDB was the creation >> of Edgar Meyer, Walter Hamilton, and Helen Berman. Hamilton was at >> Brookhaven, which held the database until 1994. It passed to the Rutgers >> consortium in 1998. It is likely that the format, which hasn't changed >> appreciably for at least 30 years, was their creation. Helen, obviously, >> is still at the helm, having resumed PDB leadership with the Rutgers >> consortium, and she would certainly know who devised the original format. >> >> Charlie >> >> On Jan 4, 2013, at 3:17 PM, Frank von Delft wrote: >> >>> Some spam for your Friday night: does anybody know who invented the PDB >>> file format originally? >>> >>> (We're at the Study Weekend dinner, and Keith Wilson's memory has failed >>> us all...) >> >> > > > -- > Bernard D. Santarsiero > Associate Director, UICentre > Research Professor > Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and the > Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy > Center for Structural Biology > Center for Clinical and Translational Science > University of Illinois at Chicago > MC870 3070MBRB 900 South Ashland Avenue > Chicago, IL 60607-7173 USA > (312) 413-0339 (office) > (312) 413-9303 (FAX) > http://www.uic.edu/labs/bds > Notice: This e-mail message, together with any attachments, contains > information of Merck & Co., Inc. (One Merck Drive, Whitehouse Station, > New Jersey, USA 08889), and/or its affiliates Direct contact information > for affiliates is available at > http://www.merck.com/contact/contacts.html) that may be confidential, > proprietary copyrighted and/or legally privileged. It is intended solely > for the use of the individual or entity named on this message. If you are > not the intended recipient, and have received this message in error, > please notify us immediately by reply e-mail and then delete it from > your system.
