Computer graphics major developments

This decade also saw the first major developments in molecular graphics. The first multiple-access computer was built at MIT (the so-called project MAC), which was a prototype for the development of modern computing. This device included a high-performance oscilloscope on which programs could draw vectors very rapidly and a closely coupled trackball with which the user could interact with the representation on the screen. Using this equipment, Levinthal and his team developed the first molecular graphics system, and his article in Scientific American [25] remains a classic in the field and laid the foundations for many of the features that characterize modern day molecular graphics systems. 

CAMSEQ/M was developed around a Tektronix 4051 Microcomputer Graphics System. The hardware required includes the basic 4051 microcomputer with a minimum of 16k bytes of memory (32k is recommended), a "joystick" graphical input device, and a matrix function package (in a read-only memory firmware pack). A vastly more versatile system requires the addition of a file manager/ disk system. In order to communicate with the NIH-EPA-CIS or another "host" computer, a communications interface is necessary. The total hardware cost is approximately 17,000. Table II outlines the required hardware. The 4051 utilizes a direct view storage display which does not employ a selective erase feature. Therefore, it is necessary to replot the screen frequently in order to remove unwanted information. This handicap is the price one must pay for low cost, but quite sophisticated computer graphics features, and does not pose any major problems in CAMSEQ/M. 

Major corporations developed an early interest in computer graphics. Engineers at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Boeing developed films to illustrate satellite orbits, aircraft vibrations, and other physics principles. Flight simulators were developed by Evans Sutherland and General Electric. 

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