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3 Simulation
Pages 57-64

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From page 57...
... The use of digital computer simulations for scientific research is half a century old. Strogatz reflects on the explanatory power of Fermi's early simulations and their profound effects.
From page 58...
... Watson and Francis Crick certainly deserved a good party, there was no mention of another scientific feat that also turned 50 this year -- one whose ramifications may ultimately turn out to be as profound as those of the double helix. In 1953, Enrico Fermi and two of his colleagues at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, John Pasta and Stanislaw Ulam, invented the concept of a "computer experiment." Suddenly the computer became a telescope for the mind, a way of exploring inaccessible processes like the collision of black holes or the frenzied dance of subatomic particles -- phenomena that are too large or too fast to be visualized by traditional experiments, and too complex to be handled by pencil-and-paper mathematics.
From page 59...
... Superconductors transmit electrical current without resistance, the byproduct of billions of pairs of electrons marching in lockstep. The resulting technology has spawned the world's most sensitive detectors, used by doctors to pinpoint diseased tissues in the brains of epileptics without the need for invasive surgery, and by geologists to locate oil buried deep underground.
From page 60...
... Well, it can if scientists embrace the example set by an unstoppable 86-year-old who, following his co-discovery of the double helix, became increasingly interested in computer simulations of complex systems in the brain. Happy anniversary, Dr.
From page 61...
... There, a computer graphics specialist, our "cameraman," safely operated the camera with the mouse attached to his computer. In fact, the camera was little more than a computer program that calculated the relative positions of boats and waves in order to add captivating imagery to a tale about fishermen struggling with treacherous waves on rough seas.
From page 62...
... Once the mathematical description exists, the problem is potentially solvable on a computer using either existing algorithmic techniques or newly devised methods. Thus, scientific computing has become a fundamental requirement for solving problems in signal processing, image analysis, robotics, computer vision, human computer interaction, and computer graphics.
From page 63...
... -oriented company called Areté Associates started a small spin-off company called Areté Entertainment to create computer graphics software that constructs artificial, but surprisingly realistic, ocean wave models. One can imagine that it could be particularly useful to be able to reproduce ocean wave models based on, for example, current wind speeds.
From page 64...
... Plate 6 shows a sample computer simulation of a skeleton running. Geometric models were used for the bones, mathematical equations were used to describe the limited motion allowed for by the connective tissue in joints, and special models for soft tissue were used to simulate the muscles (the red regions in Plate 6 represent the biceps muscles)


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