Arthur Olson's Biography

Arthur Olson, Professor, The Scripps Research Institute

Arthur Olson is the Anderson Research Chair Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at The Scripps Research Institute and founder and director of its Molecular Graphics Laboratory. He received his B.S. (honors) in Chemistry from the University of Michigan and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University, working on the first atomic resolution structure of an intact viral capsid. He is a pioneer in the analysis and visualization of biological assemblies spanning length scales from angstroms to microns. His laboratory has developed, applied and distributed a broad range of molecular modeling and visualization software tools over the past 25 years, including AutoDock, which is the worlds most highly cited ligand protein docking code. He started the first Internet distributed biomedical computing project, FightAIDS@Home, which is now running on over two million computers worldwide, and which was honored by resolution in the California State Legislature. His latest work in molecular visualization focuses on the development of novel and intuitive human interfaces for research and education in structural molecular biology utilizing solid printing and augmented reality technologies. Olson’s visualizations and animations have reached a broad audience through public venues such as the Disney EPCOT center, Public television, and a number of art and science museum exhibits around the world.