Chemistry is a science that imposes particularly exacting requirements on IT: Before researchers can start investigating complex molecular structures, they first need sophisticated software to visualize them. Without a three-dimensional view, it is easy to lose track of changes made to molecules. The free Avogadro [1] program (Figure 1) meets the challenge effectively and without any compromises to available features.

Famous Namesake

The chemistry program's name is a tribute to the Italian physicist and chemist Amedeo Avogadro, who created Avogadro's law in the 19th century; it states that equal volumes of perfect gases, at the same temperature and pressure, contain the same number of molecules. Avogadro also invented the constant that bears his name and that defines the number of elementary entities (usually atoms or molecules) in a physical quantity.

The developers, led by the project's initiator, Marcus D. Hanwell [2], are thus walking in the footsteps of a famous historical character. However, the main developer does have a PhD in physics from the University of Sheffield. He is also a KDE developer; no points for guessing that the Avogadro interface is based on Qt. Just like the underlying programming language, Python, the program not only runs on Linux, but also on Windows and Mac OS X. Version 0.9 now sees the project entering the beta phase.

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