Probing Cosmic Mysteries by Supercomputer

OCT 01, 1996

Steady advances in supercomputing hardware and numerical algorithms are beginning to shed light on some of the most recalcitrant problems in astrophysics and cosmology.

DOI: 10.1063/1.881523

Michael L. Norman

Astrophysicists have had a love affair with big computers since the dawn of the digital era. Although it is unlikely that the 1946 ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was ever used for astrophysical calculations, Princeton University astronomer Martin Schwarzschild made extensive use of the follow‐on MANIAC computer at the Los Alamos laboratory for his pioneering calculations of stellar evolution. Since World War II, simulating the inner workings of nuclear weapons has been one of the key applications driving the development of supercomputer technology. Because many of the same physical processes operate in stars and nebulae as in hydrogen bombs, supercomputers designed with defense needs in mind have been ideally suited to computational astrophysics research. Until the mid‐1980s, however, access to supercomputers was limited to a small cadre of researchers at defense laboratories or at a few specialized academic institutions.

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More about the authors

Michael L. Norman, Laboratory for Computational Astrophysics, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois, Urbana‐Champaign.