Unmatched: 50 Years of Supercomputing

The rapid and extraordinary progress of supercomputing over the past half-century is a powerful demonstration of our relentless drive to understand and shape the world around us. In this book, David Barkai offers a unique and compelling account of this remarkable technological journey, drawing from his own rich experiences working at the forefront of high-performance computing.

This book is a journey delineated as five decade-long 'epochs' defined by the systems' architectural themes: Vector processors, Multi-Processors, Microprocessors, Clusters, and Accelerators & Cloud Computing. The final part examines key issues of HPC and discusses where it might be headed.

A central goal of this book is to show how computing power has been applied, and, more importantly, how it has impacted and benefited society. To this end, the use of high-performance computing (HPC) is illustrated in a range of industries and applications, from weather & climate modelling to engineering and life sciences. As such, this book appeals to both students and general readers with an interest in HPC, as well as industry professionals looking to revolutionise their practice.