# Dr. Bunsen (Seth Brown)

> Dr. Bunsen is the long-running weblog of Seth Brown, a data scientist who built a cult following among Mac power users by treating productivity as a science experiment. He writes precise, unhurried essays on Mac scripting, Markdown workflows, standing desks, and the art of telling stories with data. By day he studies complex systems and the structure of the internet; by night he ships small, sharp command-line tools and chronicles the obsessive pursuit of a frictionless workspace.

- **Role:** Data scientist focused on complex systems and internet infrastructure
- **Organizations:** Dr. Bunsen (weblog)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Ph.D. (biostatistics / computational genomics), Postdoctoral research (small-world networks and disease)
- **Known for:** Built Dr. Bunsen into a widely cited reference among Mac power users and productivity writers., Created formd, a Markdown reference-formatting tool used in many writers' text workflows., Authored a XeTeX Beamer presentation template (drbunsen-beamer) adopted by other academics.

## Career timeline

- **—** — Earned a Ph.D. in biostatistics, using computational genomics to study cell growth and cancer.
- **—** — Postdoctoral work on how destabilization of small-world networks leads to disease.
- **—** — Launched the Dr. Bunsen weblog as a personal experiment in telling stories with data.
- **—** — Transitioned to data science in the telecommunications industry, studying internet structure and function.
- **—** — Led teams building products focused on understanding internet infrastructure and cybersecurity.
- **—** — Released open-source command-line tools including formd, Niño, and timewarp.

## Achievements

- Built Dr. Bunsen into a widely cited reference among Mac power users and productivity writers.
- Created formd, a Markdown reference-formatting tool used in many writers' text workflows.
- Authored a XeTeX Beamer presentation template (drbunsen-beamer) adopted by other academics.
- Bridged academic research in computational genomics and applied data science in internet infrastructure.
- Advocated early and publicly for open-source statistical programming over proprietary software.

## Latest updates

- **—** — Writing at seth-brown.net on networks, complex systems, internet infrastructure, and cybersecurity.
- **—** — Maintains open-source projects on GitHub, including a TypeScript rewrite of formd.

## Links

- Website: https://www.drbunsen.org
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/drbunsen
- GitHub: https://github.com/seth-brown

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/dr-bunsen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-03