The British have never been really known for their technology – this honor is usually attributed to the US and Japan. However, University of Edinburgh is set to make a name for itself and its country with the unveiling of HECToR, Britain’s fastest supercomputer to date.
What is HECToR all about? Well, it just has the power of 12,000 desktop personal computers and just might be able to help figure out some of greatest puzzles in the field of science. To get to the nitty gritty of what HECToR is capable of, think about this – 64 million calculations per second! How is that for power and speed? With this kind of power behind HECToR, scientists will be able to look at various phenomena and study subjects such as climate change. Other things that HECToR can be used for are studies on:
-medicine
-oceanography
-nanotechnology
-radar
-superconductors
-combustion engines
-new materials.
In fact, the possibilities seem limitless!
So just how big is HECToR? Imagine 60 cabinets the size of wardrobes – that’s where HECToR can be found as of the moment. As for the weight, HECToR weighs in at 113 million pounds.
To balance out all the hype, the fact is that HECToR is not the fastest and most powerful in the world. It is in fact one of the best in Europe but not the number one. Yet who cares? HECToR is proudly British made and is capable of wondrous things. He doesn’t have to be the best there is. The mere fact that we’ve come up with something like him is something to be proud of in itself.