diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 31c214cd987..561af854059 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,22 +1,95 @@
-numpy==1.17.*
-matplotlib==3.1.*
-pyqtgraph==0.11.0
-PyVISA==1.10.1
-h5py==2.10.0
-PyQt5==5.9.*;python_version<'3.8' # We stick to this old version for compatibilty with conda
+argon2-cffi~=20.1.0
+async-generator~=1.10
+attrs~=20.2.0
+backcall~=0.2.0
+bleach~=3.2.0
+broadbean~=0.9.1
+cachetools~=4.1.1
+certifi~=2020.6.20
+cffi~=1.14.2
+chardet~=3.0.4
+colorama~=0.4.3
+contextlib2~=0.6.0.post1
+cycler~=0.10.0
+decorator~=4.4.2
+defusedxml~=0.6.0
+entrypoints~=0.3
+google-api-core~=1.22.2
+google-auth~=1.21.2
+googleapis-common-protos~=1.52.0
+h5py~=2.10.0
+idna~=2.10
+importlib-metadata~=1.7.0;python_version<'3.8'
+ipykernel~=5.3.4
+ipython~=7.18.1
+ipython-genutils~=0.2.0
+ipywidgets~=7.5.1
+jedi~=0.17.2
+Jinja2~=2.11.2
+jsonschema~=3.2.0
+jupyter-client~=6.1.7
+jupyter-core~=4.6.3
+jupyterlab-pygments~=0.1.1
+kiwisolver~=1.2.0
+MarkupSafe~=1.1.1
+matplotlib~=3.1.3
+mistune~=0.8.4
+nbclient~=0.5.0
+nbconvert~=6.0.3
+nbformat~=5.0.7
+nest-asyncio~=1.4.0
+notebook~=6.1.4
+numpy~=1.17.5
+opencensus~=0.7.10
+opencensus-context~=0.1.1
+opencensus-ext-azure~=1.0.4
+packaging~=20.4
+pandas~=1.1.2
+pandocfilters~=1.4.2
+parso~=0.7.1
+pickleshare~=0.7.5
+Pillow~=7.2.0
+prometheus-client~=0.8.0
+prompt-toolkit~=3.0.7
+protobuf~=3.13.0
+psutil~=5.7.2
+pyasn1~=0.4.8
+pyasn1-modules~=0.2.8
+pycparser~=2.20
+Pygments~=2.7.1
+pyparsing~=2.4.7
+pyrsistent~=0.17.3
+python-dateutil~=2.8.1
+pytz~=2020.1
+PyVISA~=1.10.1
+pywin32==228
+pywinpty~=0.5.7
+pyzmq~=19.0.2
+requests~=2.24.0
+requirements-parser~=0.2.0
+rsa~=4.6
+ruamel.yaml~=0.16.12
+ruamel.yaml.clib~=0.2.2
+schema~=0.7.2
+Send2Trash~=1.5.0
+six~=1.15.0
+tabulate~=0.8.7
+terminado~=0.8.3
+testpath~=0.4.4
+tornado~=6.0.4
+tqdm~=4.49.0
+traitlets~=5.0.4
+typing-extensions~=3.7.4.3
+urllib3~=1.25.10
+wcwidth~=0.2.5
+webencodings~=0.5.1
+websockets~=8.1
+widgetsnbextension~=3.5.1
+wincertstore~=0.2
+wrapt~=1.12.1
+zipp~=3.1.0
+# not strict requirements but needed for the legacy pyqtgraph based plotting
+PyQt5~=5.9.2;python_version<'3.8' # We stick to this old version for compatibilty with conda
 PyQt5<5.13;python_version>='3.8' # but there are no wheels for 3.8 of this version. 5.12 is the last version that spyder supports at the moment
+pyqtgraph~=0.11.0
 QtPy
-jsonschema
-ruamel.yaml!=0.16.6
-pyzmq>=16.0.2
-broadbean>=0.9.1
-wrapt
-pandas
-tqdm
-dataclasses;python_version<'3.7'  # this won't be needed when we move to python 3.7
-websockets==8.1
-tabulate
-opencensus-ext-azure
-requirements-parser
-importlib-metadata;python_version<'3.8'
-ipywidgets