Feb 10
Britain’s fastest supercomputer unveiled
The supercomputer that could help answer some of science’s most important questions is unveiled today.
 With the power of 12000 desktop computers, the huge machine called Hector is the fastest computer in the United Kingdom and one of the most powerful in Europe. It can make 63 trillion calculations per second, which allows scientists to conduct research on everything from climate change to new drugs.
 The device is housed in a cupboard-sized firms 60 at the University of Edinburgh’s advanced information technology center near the Scottish capital. After years of development, the Chancellor Alistair Darling was due to attend the ceremony for the formal launch of the machine, which cost £ 113 million.
 Hector, which stands for High-End Computing Terascale Resource, was made by the American manufacturer Cray Inc.
 ”Hector will enable us to do research that we simply could not do in any other way,” said Jane Nicholson, a researcher at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the public body that acts as agent Project Management. “We want to push the boundaries of knowledge.”
 Researchers plan to harness the power of the computer to study ocean currents, tiny parts to build computers and advanced warplanes less visible to radar. Other projects include research on superconductors, combustion engines and new materials. Scientists working in areas ranging from cosmology and atomic physics to the disaster simulation and health will also use the computer.
 Despite its immense power, Hector is less powerful then Blue Gene / L. Housed which you will find at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, Blue Gene is used for the study of nuclear weapons without the need for underground testing and it is the world’s biggest computer.
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