President Barack Obama has signed an executive order to help create the world’s fastest computer. The new initiative, known as National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI), will begin working on “the first exaflop supercomputer—something that’s about 30 times faster than today’s fastest machines.”
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Supercomputers are at the heart of a huge number of important scientific and defense research projects. They’re used by aerospace engineers to model planes and weapons, and by climatologists to predict the the near-term impact of hurricanes and the long-term effects of climate change. Researchers involved in the White House’s Precision Medicine initiative believe exaflop speed supercomputers could aid the creation of personalized drugs, while the European Commission’s Human Brain Project hopes they will help unlock the secrets of the human brain.
Several government agencies, most notably the Department of Energy, have been deeply involved in the development of supercomputers over the last few decades, but they’ve typically worked separately.