Hawking welcomes new computing funds

The Government has pumped £12.32 million into new hardware for the UK’s High Performance Computing Consortia – providing UK particle physicists and astronomers with upgraded HPC technology to address some of the most challenging scientific problems.

computer-simulated image of the glow of dark matter

The new funding will allow the UK’s HPC facilities to continue pooling their complementary expertise and help ensure that the UK remains one of the world-leaders of theoretical modeling in particle physics, astronomy and cosmology.

The Minister of State for Science and Innovation Lord Drayson said: “Our physicists need the next generation of supercomputers to explore big questions about star formation, the forces within hadrons, and fluid dynamics. The UK is a world leader in the theoretical modelling of fundamental physics and this investment in new hardware will help to keep us on top.”

HPC-based modeling is an essential tool for the exploitation of observational and experimental facilities in astronomy and particle physics, as this technology allows our scientists to test their theories and run simulations from the data gathered in experiments. The UK has an extremely strong HPC community and continued investment in these powerful computing facilities will allow the UK science community to pursue cutting-edge research on a broad range of topics, from simulating the entire evolution of the universe, from the big bang to the present, to modelling the structure of matter.

Professor Stephen Hawking, principal investigator of the COSMOS consortium, welcomed the news and said: “This is an exciting time in astronomy, particle physics and cosmology with the UK heavily involved in world-leading terrestrial and space-based experiments. These supercomputer funds will ensure that calculations from our theories keep pace and are tested against the observations now flooding in. I am confident these resources will help UK scientists answer some of the biggest questions about our Universe.”