Science is the effort of trying to understand how the physical world works. From observation and experimentation, science uses physical evidence of natural phenomena to compile data and analyze the collated information. Science really prospers and advances when individuals share the results of their experiments with others in the scientific community. There is a certain logic that scientific software should therefore be released in a freely distributable environment.

To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 42 high quality Linux scientific applications, covering a broad spectrum of uses. There’s a mix of graphical and console based applications included. Hopefully, there will be something of interest for all types of users.

Now, let’s explore the 42 scientific applications at hand. For each title we have compiled its own portal page, providing a screenshot of the software in action (where appropriate), a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, together with links to relevant resources and reviews.

Scientific Software FreeMat Rapid engineering and scientific prototyping and data processing K3DSurf Visualize and manipulate multidimensional surfaces Octave High-level language, primarily intended for numerical computations Scilab Numerical computational package Axiom For research and development of mathematical algorithms Mathomatic Fast and easy-to-use console mode Computer Algebra System Maxima System for the manipulation of symbolic and numerical expressions PARI/GP Designed for fast computations in number theory Sage Integrates an included distribution of specialized mathematics software PSPP Free replacement of the proprietary program, SPSS R Environment for statistical computing and graphics Gnuplot Command-driven interactive function plotting program EMBOSS The European Molecular Biology Open Software Suite GROMACS Molecular dynamics simulator, with building and analysis tools VMD Displays, animates, and analyzes large biomolecular systems Avogadro Advanced molecular editor Gabedit Graphical user interface to computational chemistry packages GAMESS General ab initio quantum chemistry package Psi4 Ab initio quantum chemistry software designed for efficient, high-accuracy simulations MPQC Computes the properties of molecules, ab initio Open Babel Converts and manipulates chemical data files PyMOL OpenGL molecular graphics system written in Python CompHEP Automatic computations in High Energy Physics Gerris Tool for generic numerical simulations of flows Octopus Real-space, real-time implementation of TDDFT OpenFOAM Facilitates the numerical solution of partial differential equations ROOT Solves the data analysis challenges of high-energy physics Celestia Real-time space simulation KStars Desktop planetarium for KDE Skychart Prepare different sky maps for a particular observation Stellarium A virtual planetarium IRAF Image Reduction and Analysis Facility Elmer Multiphysical simulation software Qucs Integrated circuit simulator GRASS Geographic Resources Analysis Support System Quantum GIS Create, visualise, query and analyse geospatial data SAGA Analysis of spatial data uDig Spatial data viewer/editor gretl Regression, Econometric and Time-Series Library Kile User-friendly LaTeX source editor and TeX shell and KDE LyX Advanced open source document processor TeXmacs WYSIWYW scientific word processor

Return to our complete collection of recommended free and open source software including our latest additions.

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