Academy awards for computational physics
DOI: 10.1063/1.2911191
Detailed animation and breathtaking special effects in Hollywood blockbusters have become routine moviegoer expectations. But making such effects look as realistic as possible requires heavy use of computers and physics. This year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized several contributions to fluid simulations with its Technical Achievement Awards and its Scientific and Engineering Awards.
Among the recipients were Ron Fedkiw, Frank Losasso Petterson, and Nick Rasmussen, whose work with simulating low-viscosity liquids is shown in these images and is on display in Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, and numerous other movies. To learn more about the contributions of physically based simulations in filmmaking, see Physics Today, November 2007, page 24 .
To submit candidate images for Back Scatter, visit http://www.physicstoday.org/backscatter.html .
Images courtesy of Frank Losasso Petterson, Jerry Talton, Nipun Kwatra, and Ron Fedkiw, Stanford University.
