In silico
in silico is an expression used to mean "performed on computer or via computer simulation." The phrase is coined from the Latin phrases in vivo and in vitro that are commonly used in biology (see also systems biology) and refer to experiments done in living organisms and outside of living organisms, respectively. Contrary to widespread belief, in silico does not mean anything in Latin.
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History of the term in silico
The expression "in silico" has been used in White Papers written to support the creation of bacterial genome programs by the Commission of the European Community. The sentence where "in silico" appeared first in a public article is the following: "Experimentation in silico Using the data available in libraries [...] two sets of experiments were performed on computers (experiments in silico) using the consistency of the data extracted. [...]"[1]
"In silico" was briefly challenged by "in silicio", which is correct Latin for in silicon (the Latin term for silicon, silicium, was created at the beginning of the 19th Century by Berzelius). "In silico" was perceived as catchier, possibly through similarity to the word silicate. "In silico" is now almost universal; it even occurs in a journal title (In Silico Biology: http://www.bioinfo.de/isb/)
The phrase "in silico" originally applied only to computer simulations that modeled natural or laboratory processes (in all the natural sciences), and did not refer to calculations done by computer generically.
See also
References
- 1. ^ Danchin A, Medigue C, Gascuel O, Soldano H, Henaut A. From data banks to data bases. Res Microbiol. 1991 Sep-Oct;142(7-8):913-6. PMID 1784830
