The Evolution of Supercomputers
Supercomputers are computers that are vastly more powerful in computing power then your typical household desktop. They are used for more demanding computational activities such as quantum mechanics, molecular modelling, and simulations. Now a new computer has become the world's fastest supercomputer called Frontier (1). Frontier was developed by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory reaching a massive 1.1 exaflops (FLOP = floating point operations per second) of power (the first computer to cross the threshold into exaflops). For context, a gigaflop can perform 1 billion calculations per second (109) while an exaflop can perform 1 quintillion (1018) calculations per second. With this new computer, modelling computationally demanding things like cancer cells, supernovas, elemental structures, or the coronavirus become much easier and with higher accuracy. Going into 2023, the computer will have final testing, and validation before being approved for use. This computer can revolutionise how science is conducted, making previously impossible calculations and models with ease.
References:
Frontier supercomputer debuts as world’s fastest, breaking exascale barrier | ORNL. (2022). Ornl.gov. https://www.ornl.gov/news/frontier-supercomputer-debuts-worlds-fastest-breaking-exascale-barrier