astronomy

Warren Lyford DeLano

Warren Lyford DeLano is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Warren Lyford DeLano rather than just read about it. In short: Warren Lyford DeLano (June 21, 1972 – November 3, 2009) was a bioinformatician and an advocate for the increased adoption of open source practices in the sciences, and especially drug discovery, where advances which save time and resources can also potentially save lives. Biography Born in Philadelphia on June 21, 1972, DeLano was educated at Yale University, where he helped produce campus humor magazine The Yale Re…

Key takeaways

Warren Lyford DeLano belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Warren Lyford DeLano to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Warren Lyford DeLano from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Warren Lyford DeLano (June 21, 1972 – November 3, 2009) was a bioinformatician and an advocate for the increased adoption of open source practices in the sciences, and especially drug discovery, where advances which save time and resources can also potentially save lives.

Biography Born in Philadelphia on June 21, 1972, DeLano was educated at Yale University, where he helped produce campus humor magazine The Yale Record. In 2000, he launched the PyMOL open-source molecular viewer in an attempt to demonstrate the practical impact open source might have on discovery of new medicines. Since then, PyMOL has been widely adopted for molecular structure visualization within the pharmaceutical industry and at public sector research institutions. In 2003, DeLano founded DeLano Scientific LLC to commercialize PyMOL and conduct an experiment in the "laboratory of the market" regarding the commercial viability of an open source software company. His hypothesis was that open source software is intrinsically optimal for science, and that scientific software companies which provide open source solutions will, through free market competition, eventually displace companies that favor proprietary solutions. Delano was married to Beth Pehrson. He died by suicide on 3 November 2009 at his home in Palo Alto, California. In 2009 the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology created the DeLano Award for Computational Biosciences in DeLano's honor. The award acknowledges a scientist for the most accessible and innovative development or application of computer technology to enhance research in the life sciences at the molecular level.

Public quotes Lack of access to effective software continues to be a major hindrance to scientific progress and therapeutic discovery. For the benefit of all society, we need to pursue new and complementary approaches to the creation and dissemination of scientific software. The only way to publish software in a scientifically robust manner is to share source code, and that means publishing via the internet in an open-access/open-source fashion. To the pharmaceutical manager, tasked with delivery of robust information systems, open source is simply a way to gain increased flexibility and lower upfront costs in exchange for assuming greater internal responsibility over acquired software.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Warren Lyford DeLano

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Warren Lyford DeLano claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Warren Lyford DeLano before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Warren Lyford DeLano ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Warren Lyford DeLano

In research: Warren Lyford DeLano appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Warren Lyford DeLano in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Warren Lyford DeLano is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1972 births, 2009 deaths, American bioinformaticians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Warren Lyford DeLano outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Warren Lyford DeLano in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Warren Lyford DeLano means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Warren Lyford DeLano out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Warren Lyford DeLano in simple terms?

Why does Warren Lyford DeLano matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Warren Lyford DeLano?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Warren Lyford DeLano.