However, the embedded equations and diagrams common to many math, chemistry, and physics publications were still difficult to manage. "Chemistry documents have historically always been very typographically complex," says chemistry professor Thomas O'Haver of the University of Maryland at College Park.
Today, the scientist's job--or that of the typist hired by the scientist--has been eased considerably when it comes to publishing. Programs designed specifically for writing equations or drawing chemical structures have been developed, as have full-featured word processors with additional scientific and technical capabilities. These programs not only cut down on the frustration factor, but also can free a researcher's precious time and money for other tasks.
"Scientific document preparation is the single biggest success story" for introducing microcomputers to scientists, says O'Haver. In fact, he contends that ChemDraw, a Macintosh-based chemical-structure drawing package produced by Cambridge Scientific Computing Co. of Cambridge, Mass., helped usher chemists into the age ...
