Academic Supercomputer Named Fastest In World.

Academic Supercomputer Named Fastest In World.

The AP (11/17, Mansfield) reports, "At least for the moment, the world's fastest supercomputer is devoted to solving scientific questions that may save the planet - climate change, renewable energy, new medicines - rather than advances in nuclear weapons that might blow it up." The recently upgraded Jaguar XT5 computer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory "was named Monday as the fastest on the planet in the latest semiannual TOP500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers," beating previous frontrunner Los Alamos National Laboratory's IBM Roadrunner system and making it "the top 'academic' supercomputer in the world." While the Department of Energy "owns both Jaguar and Roadrunner," it "uses them for different purposes. Jaguar is an 'open science' tool for peer-reviewed research on a wide range of subjects. Roadrunner is devoted to the complex and classified evaluation of U.S. nuclear weapons."