How powerful were the first supercomputers?

The first supercomputers used the basic concept of electronic programming and numerical transactions for information processing. Using the scalar processing technique, early designs were very simple according to modern standards. Each computer was able to process only one data item at the same time using the concept of integral data types or numbers with a movable point. Integral types of data in computer science methodology represent the final subgroup of mathematical integers to create a process. A moving point method is a system in which a bits string represents a rational number. This new central processing (CPU) design has enabled users to operate more mathematical equations simultaneously. Basically, was able to implement the scalar processing method at a much more sophisticated level. This technique was highly acclimatized for scientific calculation Throdine in the age of 80, but disappeared with the advent of a better CPU and parallel processing. Parallel processing using thousandsCu processors became the basis of modern supercomputers.

Although computers of room size existed since the 1840s, until the 1960s scientists began to fully use the design concept to develop the first supercomputers. The primary scientist for the development of the first supercomputers was Seymour Cray in Control Data Corporation. After creating a number of designs, he left the company in 1980 to establish a Cray Research, an independent design company. His designs for supercomputers dominated the market for several years before the massive market crash of supercomputers in the 90's and his death in 1996.

considered the first supercomputer, the Cray-1 ™ system was installed in 1976 in the National Los Alamos National Laboratory. At that time, its speed maintained a world record of 160 million operations per second, also known as Megafops. It contained only 8 megabytes of memory. One of the main progress, thanksThe computer was durable and powerful was its design, which used wires no more than four feet (1.22 m) in length. In addition, the cooling system used freon to prevent overheating.

A short time later, the European weather forecasting center (ECMWF) received the next generation Cray 1-A ™ supercomputers. This was equipped with a system that made it possible to process a 10 -day prediction in five hours. Before this supercomputer, the ECMWF system took 12 days to process the same prognosis length. With this installation, the era of the supercomputer as the main instrument first rooted and changed the world forever.