Computing technology has come incredibly far in the last 80 years. No other technology has seen such dramatic improvements in as little time. Super computers today are millions of times more powerful then those 50 years ago, and are only getting stronger. With this computing power we have the tools to investigate and potentially solve various scientific problems. Enter computational science, a relatively new field that is changing how scientists approach and solve problems.
Computational science utilizes the advances in computational processing power to tackle problems that were far too complex mathematically. Various factors added to this mathematical complexity, such as the number of variables, the number of calculations, or the complexity of the model. Using computers we can build models to help better understand things that were impossible to compute in real time otherwise, such as weather or geological models. Essentially what Computational Science comes down to is using computers to aid with and solve complex problems. It's often considered the fourth method of conducting research, in addition to experimental science, theoretical science and observational science.
A link I found in researching this topic is to the SciDAC Review, in which they list the top breakthroughs in Computational Science. The list was incredible, and helped me understand just how tremendous the contribution of Computational Science has been to research. I urge you all to take a look, as I'm still reading through this article in awe. Here's the link.
Sources :
http://www.shodor.org/chemviz/overview/compsci.html
http://www.scidacreview.org/0901/html/bt.html
No comments:
Post a Comment