Supercomputers Helping Scientists Crack Massive Problems Faster
RON DAGANI · Chemical & Engineering News · 1985
In 1978, Charanjit S. Pangali, then a graduate student working with chemical physicist Bruce J. Berne at Columbia University, composed a computer program to solve a difficult problem in statistical mechanics. Simply put, they were trying to predict the effect of intermolecular forces on two unsolvated xenon atoms in water. Using a conventional mainframe and a minicomputer, both located on campus, they got their answer, but only after the machines had spent a total of some 500 expensive hours grinding out solutions to a blizzard of equations. Two months ago, Pangali tried the same problem on a supercomputer. He got the correct answer in 19 minutes. With performance like that, the supercomputer is quickly becoming the darling of computationally oriented researchers. Its dazzling speed is enabling them to tackle gargantuan problems that, previously, were too time-consuming to even be considered. After all, how many scientists could afford to tie up their institution's mainframe for thousands ...