Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry System (SMILES) can define the shape of molecules in short ASCII strings. Invented in the 1980s, an open standard in the 2000s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_molecular-input_line-entry_system

something I didn't know about until reading https://medium.com/@belledejour_uk/the-drugs-won-t-work-659c6d7a4ac1

Simplified molecular-input line-entry system - Wikipedia

@natecull that piece by Dr #BrookeMagnanti was insightful in so many ways. I posted one quote from it on the fediverse earlier today. The history of the #InfoMesa is a wonderful example of #DouglasRushkoff's 'Thowing Rocks ...' thesis about VC distorting both technological and economic development. Love that she mentions #BenGoldacre's work, and her discussion of the corrosive effect of "IP" on universities and on openness and colloboration in the sciences is bang on.