The Protein Data Bank: a historical perspective

The Protein Data Bank: a historical perspective.

The Protein Data Bank began as a grassroots effort in 1971. It has grown from a small archive containing a dozen structures to a major international resource for structural biology containing more than 40000 entries. The interplay of science, technology and attitudes about data sharing have all played a role in the growth of this resource.

The Local Limit Theorem: A Historical Perspective

The local limit theorem describes how the density of a sum of random variables follows the normal curve. However the local limit theorem is often seen as a curiosity of no particular importance when compared with the central limit theorem. Nevertheless the local limit theorem came first and is in fact associated with the foundation of probability theory by Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fer...

Spermatozoa: A Historical Perspective

The 100,000th scientific article on the subject of spermatozoa was recently published. Many studies have evaluated the characteristics of this important cell leading to great discoveries. Since its first observation and description in 1677, many important characteristics have been described regarding this highly fascinating gamete. In this review, our objective has been to provide a historical ...

The Protein Data Bank

The Protein Data Bank [PDB; Berman, Westbrook et al. (2000), Nucleic Acids Res. 28, 235-242; http://www.pdb.org/] is the single worldwide archive of primary structural data of biological macromolecules. Many secondary sources of information are derived from PDB data. It is the starting point for studies in structural bioinformatics. This article describes the goals of the PDB, the systems in pl...

Description of the human races: A historical perspective