High-Powered GRAPEs Take On the Cosmos
Dennis Normile · Science · 2001
SUPERCOMPUTINGTOKYO-- GRAPE-6, the latest in a line of machines that has been quietly revolutionizing astrophysical simulation, was unveiled earlier this week at a symposium here. GRAPEs do just one thing--compute the gravitational attraction between two bodies--and they do it so quickly that researchers have been able to begin simulating these astrophysical phenomena using realistic numbers of celestial bodies, a task that chokes conventional supercomputers. And GRAPEs are so affordable, even modestly funded groups can buy their own; many groups have several.