The world is advancing day after day. There is no end to technology. Computers were invented in the past four to five decades. People couldn't evaluate computers at that time because computers weren't of much use. Most mathematical operations were done by hand until 1971 when the first minicomputer was invented, which was the calculator. Calculators cost around 2000 dirhams then, as my father recalls. They were used to solve arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, trigonometry, and exponential functions. Technology kept on advancing until scientists came up with the first computer with a microprocessor, the 4004 computers. These were followed by the 8008, 8080, 80286, 386 DX, 486 DX, Pentium, Pentium Pro, Pentium II, P II Xeon...Pentium III computers...[and Pentium IV that is available in the present time] (Gilheany, 2000).
        These types of computers have appeared in the past three decades. Computers were built in order to facilitate our daily jobs. The jobs can be as simple as calculating the average of a student's marks or lighting up a lamp as you enter your bedroom. They also could be as complicated as helping scientists in their research or operating the machines that manufacture cars. Supercomputers are a special kind of computers and are used in many scientific fields.

        "[A supercomputer is] designed to perform calculations as fast as current technology allows and used to solve extremely complex problems" (Encarta, 1998, p. 1). The main difference between supercomputers and mainframe computers or workstation computers is that supercomputers are used to solve one single problem at a time, i.e., they use all their computational power to find a solution to one problem, while mainframes and workstations can solve many smaller problems and are operated by many users. Supercomputers and normal desktop computers share the same concept of two main components, which are the central processing unit (CPU) and the memory.
        The main difference in processing is that supercomputers use thousands of processors instead of one microprocessor. A microprocessor is a silicon chip where all arithmetic and logic functions are carried out. Supercomputers' features are determined mainly by their speed. Their speed is measured by the number of floating-point operations per second (FLOPS), i.e., the number of calculations that can be executed in one second. The first supercomputer was the Cray-1 in 1976. Its speed was 167 megaflops. The most recent online supercomputer is IBM SP named "Seaborg." It has 3,328 processors and is capable of performing 5 trillion calculations per second. It was released in California in the United States of America and is available for 2,000 researchers (Bashor, 2001, p.1).

Climate Research

        Climate researchers need supercomputers to carry out their research. For example, Bashor (2001) says that Duffy's group, a group that works in climate and carbon cycle modeling at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, used an IBM supercomputer to run a simulation of a global climate. The simulation involved drawings on a latitude-longitude grid. The resolution of the grid was 50-kilometers, which provided meaningful information such as the effect of water in agriculture and human health. Another example is the team of Loft, Thomas and Dennis, computational scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, who were able to run a climate simulation of 130 years. The simulation required a massive amount of calculations that would have been extremely difficult to run on a normal computer (Bashor, 2001).
        Besides, the Dutch are using a supercomputer to simulate the weather. All the input data needed is obtained by the supercomputer itself. So basically it works by itself and doesn't need the help of any other device ("New KNMI," 2001). Supercomputers are also used in "tracking and fighting wildfires across the country by...predicting the speed, the spread rates and other movements of wildfires in an effort to improve firefighting efforts" (Weiss, 2001, p. 1). In addition, they are used in oceanographic modeling to study the ocean's current flow and how it affects the planet's atmosphere and climate, as well as to design better spacecraft and build safer bridges (Hynum, 1999). One more example is that supercomputers are used to predict hurricanes and to measure the level of carbon dioxide in the air (Revkin, 2001).

Physics

        Physicists also use supercomputers to carry out their research. For instance, Bashor (2001) mentions that Hauschildt, an astrophysicist who is working at the University of Georgia, used the help of an IBM supercomputer to run his model which was based on very low mass stars. He said that the supercomputer took four days in order to complete his model. Furthermore, they are used in fluid dynamic calculations to calculate the fluids' pressure and the square root mean velocity to determine the distance traveled by the fluid and its rate of effusion ("Information Technology," n.d.).

Chemistry

        Chemists also use supercomputers in their research. For example, Bashor (2001) says, "A DOE [Department of Energy] research team of scientists from Oak Ridge National, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center used the supercomputer to perform first-principles spin dynamic simulations of the magnetic structure of iron-manganese/cobalt interfaces" (p. 2). The simulation involved a great number of atoms, which required a massive number of calculations. The team was able to execute 2.46 trillion calculations per second while executing their project. Supercomputers are also used to run chemistry programs such as GAUSSIAN, a quantum chemistry package that is used to compare the electronic properties of two isomers, which are compounds that have the same molecular formula but different molecular structure ("Computational Chemistry," n.d.; Gaussian, n.d.). Furthermore, Hynum (1999) says that supercomputers are used by biochemists to study "three dimensional models of protein structures" (p. 2) in order to know the exact shape of the structure by seeing how exactly the bonds look alike.

Astronomy

        Astronomers, too, need the help of supercomputers to carry out their research. For instance, Ricker (n.d.), an astronomer working at the University of Chicago, used NAPACI supercomputers to perform crash test simulations of the largest objects in the universe, clusters of galaxies. Those clusters are more than 5 million light-years across with a mass of a thousand trillion suns. In addition, Baron, an astronomer who was working at the University of Oklahoma, used an IBM supercomputer to determine the distance and the nature of dark energy, which is dark matter's energy that is known only by its gravitational force (Bashor, 2001). Furthermore, supercomputers are used to simulate the liquid bridge experiment. This experiment deals with studying fluids in space, for instance, "How do you boil water in space?.... How do you put out a fire in space?.... How do you lubricate surfaces in space?" (Frank, n.d., pp. 1-2). Supercomputers are also used not only to "simulate the clusters of hundred of thousands of stars--a capability that will enable new understanding of the formation and evolution of our own Milky Way Galaxy," but also to understand the "way star clusters form and develop" ("IBM Supplies," 2001, pp. 4-5).

Military

        The military forces in many countries depend heavily on supercomputers. As the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary of the National Security of the United States said in a letter (Hyde, 2001), "Uses of supercomputers include: design and testing of nuclear weapons; sophisticated weather forecasting; weapons optimization studies crucial for the sufficient use of chemical and biological weapons; aerospace design and testing; creating and breaking codes; miniaturizing nuclear weapons; and finding objects on the ocean floor, including submarines" (p. 2). Moreover, the U.S. Navy uses supercomputers to simulate the weather of the ocean to guarantee the safety of its navy ("U.S. Navy Selects," n.d.).

Engineering

        In addition, engineers use supercomputers in their fields. For example, the Japanese are using supercomputers to develop nuclear reactors, particularly nuclear fuels. They are also using supercomputers to simulate automobile crashes in order to officially state whether the vehicles are safe or not. Besides, they use supercomputers for circuit simulation to be capable of manufacturing electronic devices ("Japanese Supercomputer," n.d.). Supercomputers are used for petroleum exploration as well ("Information Technology," n.d.). Furthermore, supercomputers are used in the French aerospace, tire, and electricity industries ("4 France," 1996). Another example is that Mercedes and Porsche are using supercomputers to design and simulate their components ("Academic and Industry," 1996). Also, supercomputers are used for studying "the energy efficiency of buildings and cities" (Perera & Vance, 2001). Moreover, chemical Engineers utilize supercomputers to "create detailed maps of subterranean oil and gas reservoirs" (Cowley, 2001, p. 1). Finally, supercomputers are used to model the combustion of engines at high accuracy in order to design vehicles that produce the least amount of pollution ("Three Trillion," 2000).

Medicine

        Supercomputers are used in medial fields as well as any other field. One example is that they are used to find out some of the keys used to understand genetic diseases and to study the relationship between genes and cancer (IBM, 2001). Furthermore, they are "required to analyze [biomedical and biological] massive data stores and to create the linkage among different types of data, for example clinical records and genetic information, that will enable new breakthroughs in health care" ("IBM Supplies," 2001, p. 3). In addition, they are used to display medical images which are of very fine resolution up to 9.2 million pixels or dots per inch ("IBM Supplies," 2001). In addition, one team of medical researchers used a supercomputer to demonstrate "one of the most frequent techniques for the relief of pain during surgery, particularly during childbirth. This medical procedure is delicate and dangerous as the administer must maneuver around the human spinal cord" ("Virtual Medicine," 1996, pp. 1-2). Another example is that supercomputers are used to simulate the functioning of drugs inside the human body (BioNumerik Pharmaceuticals, n.d.). Supercomputers are also used "to accelerate drug research and development" (Weiss, 2001, p. 1). Last but not least, Evans (2001) says that supercomputers are also used in "research activities like X-ray microscopy, ultra-precision machining and medical diagnosis and treatment" (p. 1).

        Supercomputers are one of the most important tools that help scientist to carry out their research. Uses of supercomputers are enormous in almost every scientific field. Supercomputers have been advancing rapidly in the past four decades. The real question is, where are supercomputers heading? There are two answers for this question. The first answer is that there is a limit for everything. Supercomputers' speed has increased enormously in the past few years for two reasons: One is that a huge change occurred in the size of the transistors. The second reason is applying the parallel processing system. Scientists and engineers are trying to minimize the size of transistors, and hence the size of the processors will decrease. Therefore, they can install more processors resulting in a faster supercomputer.
        People should ask, for how long are scientists and engineers going to be able to reduce the size of the processors? There will be a point where you can't trim down the size of the transistors because it will have reached the size of an atom or slightly bigger. On the other hand, there is no limit for technology. It doesn't stop and will continue to grow forever, especially when it comes to computers. There is always a solution to any problem. In the past, people didn't expect to have automobiles that could drive anywhere they want on earth, or airplanes that could fly through the sky, or submarines that could take them deep inside the oceans, or space shuttles that could take them to the moon or further. Likewise, now it might be impossible for us to imagine that there will be no end for supercomputers’ speed.
        Supercomputers in the future are going to replace normal desktop computers. As time passes we write new complicated programs, which means that the size of the programs is increasing and we need a faster computer to run such programs. A good example of such programs is computer games. New computer games on the market need the latest processor or the one just before in order to run. Other examples are math, chemistry, and physics programs. As can be seen from the uses of supercomputers, they have developed a lot in the past four decades. They are the future.

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