How exascale computers accelerate scientific discovery | Michael E. Papka | TEDxChicago

What if the key to solving humanity’s greatest challenges—from curing diseases to understanding the universe—was a machine capable of a quintillion calculations per second? Meet Aurora, the supercomputer changing the game for science.

In this TEDxChicago talk, Michael Papka takes us on a journey into the world of supercomputing and the extraordinary power of collaboration. From outpacing antibiotic-resistant bacteria to predicting the path of catastrophic hurricanes, today’s challenges demand solutions at unprecedented speeds. That’s where Aurora comes in—a groundbreaking exascale supercomputer that can process data faster than ever imagined. But it’s not just about speed. Aurora is an open science machine, designed to share discoveries and accelerate breakthroughs in biology, cosmology, neuroscience, and more.

Papka—a professor, supercomputing expert, and science enabler—reveals how he and a team of innovators built Aurora at The Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory to push the boundaries of what’s possible. This massive leap in technology is helping scientists uncover the secrets of the brain, the universe, and our planet’s most pressing problems—all in the nick of time. Supercomputers and scientific collaboration are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and pushing researchers to explore the biggest question of all: what can we accomplish next. Michael E. Papka, the Director of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility at Argonne National Laboratory and the Warren S. McCulloch Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois Chicago, is engineering a new future for enabling data-based insights. He oversees the development and deployment of Aurora, one of the world's first exascale supercomputers. While typical computers perform billions of calculations per second, Aurora can perform more than a quintillion calculations per second. With this “supercomputer power”, he and his team are pushing the boundaries of what we can learn from vast amounts of data. These insights can help us advance innovation within the fields of human health, material science, climate research, and more. With three decades of experience, Michael constructs and strategically guides massive computing infrastructures and trains and mentors the next generation of data scientists. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx