NATIONAL EXASCALE DAY | OCTOBER 18
On October 18 (1018), National Exascale Day celebrates the scientists and researchers who make breakthrough discoveries in medicine, materials sciences, energy and beyond with the help of some of the fastest supercomputers in the world.
#NationalExascaleDay
We like to say that National Exascale Day celebrates those who keep asking what if, why not, and what’s next — with the advanced technology to attain the answers.
This era in technology will have a profound impact on nearly every aspect of our daily lives. It will impact everything from healthcare and manufacturing to understanding new energy sources and the origins of the universe. Exascale is defined as a quintillion computations per second. For perspective, if all 7.7 billion people on earth each completed one calculation per second, it would take over 4 years. An exascale computer can complete a quintillion computations in 1 second.
So what, you may ask?
The “so what” is that when science discovers and innovates in less time, it realizes good outcomes sooner. More people survive cancer. Populations deplete fewer natural resources from the earth. More people have healthy food on their tables. And so on.
HOW TO OBSERVE NATIONAL EXASCALE DAY
Celebrate the geeks, gurus, and geniuses who keep asking the big questions and are changing the world! To get you started, here are a few ideas:
- Hug a scientist.
- Encourage your teams to recognize the great work of a colleague, researcher or anyone who is using advanced computing to change the world.
- Tell the world via your organization’s website, blog, and media channels how your org views the impacts of Exascale computing on the future.
- Take a scientist or science teacher for lunch.
- Celebrate with your teams – ice cream social, picnic lunch, or special recognition ceremony.
- Keep science alive in your schools by sponsoring a science fair.
Use #NationalExascaleDay to share on social media. Keep reading to learn even more!
We’ve included a bit more information below for your curious-er types.
Fun Factoids
- Exascale computing means a computing system that can perform at least one exaflops ― or one quintillion (a billion billion) calculations per second.
- It would take 40,000 years for one quintillion gallons of water to spill over Niagara Falls.
- The Milky Way galaxy is 1 quintillion kilometers wide.
- The human brain contains 100 billion neurons – to reach one quintillion would require 10,000 people!
- Exascale computers will be roughly a million times more powerful than the average laptop we use every day.
A Historical View into the Next Inflection Point
The advent of the Internet allowed business and industry to collect data like never before. Fast forward, data growth continues to drive organizations of all sizes to data-intensive computing and digital transformation. In response, AI, analytics, IoT, simulations, and modeling workloads are all converging into one business-critical workflow – a workflow that must operate at an extreme scale and in real-time.
So, data growth, converging workloads, and the imperative for digital transformation mean organizations are asking completely new questions. And they need new capabilities to answer those questions. Exascale computing completely rethinks how technology and people come together to answer today’s biggest questions ― and even bigger ones tomorrow.
What Makes Now an Exascale Era™?
Exascale is more than a speed milestone or a system size. Exascale is new workloads brought on by new questions intersecting with new compute capabilities to create a major technological shift.
NATIONAL EXASCALE DAY HISTORY
CRAY, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, founded National Exascale Day in 2019 to celebrate the people who keep asking, “what if, why not, and what’s next?” — with the advanced technology to attain the answers. The day also celebrates a new era of supercomputing that will enable breakthroughs in disciplines benefitting all of humankind.
The Registrar at National Day Calendar® proclaimed National Exascale Day to be observed on October 18th, annually.
Exascale FAQ
Q. What’s the smallest computer in the world?
A. In 2018, researchers at the University of Michigan created a microcomputer measuring 0.3 x 0.3mm – about the size of a grain of salt. And it’s not the first time they’ve done it. In 2015, they built the Michigan Micro Mote. The tiny technology measured 2x2x4mm.
Q. What is a quintillion?
A. A quintillion can be written in a number of ways:
- 1018
- A thousand to the 6th power
- Billion billion
Q. How many zeros does a quintillion have?
A. 18
Q. What comes after a quintillion?
A. A quintillion one. However, the next thousandth is called a sextillion.
Q. What comes before quintillion?
A. Quadrillion nine hundred ninety-nine. Or, if you mean the previous thousandth, quadrillion. We’ll stop now.
