Time magazine names ORNL's supercomputer Frontier one of 2023's best inventions
Time magazine published its annual Best Inventions issue, and a marvel of engineering in Knoxville's backyard took a central place among the year's 200 greatest innovations.
Frontier, the world's fastest and most powerful supercomputer housed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was praised by the magazine for its scale and range of research capabilities. It is the world's first exascale computer, meaning it can complete more than one quintillion calculations in a single second.
The $600 million system was built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise with next-generation processors from Advanced Micro Devices. It was delivered to ORNL in 2021 and became available to a select group of scientists in 2022. It went fully online earlier this year for research across fields and around the globe.
“People compare it to the equivalent of landing on the moon in our generation, in terms of an engineering feat,” Nic Dubé, who led the Frontier project for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, told Time. “This is more than a miracle. This is statistical impossibility.”
What ORNL Frontier supercomputer is used for
In its first year, Frontier has helped scientists simulate a Milky Way-like galaxy, the Zika virus, the genetics behind Alzheimer's and autism, the flow of pollutants through the atmosphere and a new kind of commercial jet engine architecture that could reduce carbon emissions drastically.
No matter what scientific field, Frontier allows researchers to process more data points more quickly, unlocking answers that were previously out of reach.
"To answer some of the most pressing questions we have - will Earth heat up by one degree Celsius in the next 50 years, or a catastrophic six? - we need supercomputers that work faster and in much greater detail than typical computers," Time said in its entry on Frontier.
The supercomputer was the first groundbreaking technology mentioned by Time on its page explaining the list, and was recognized for its profound effect on global science.
Frontier is housed at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, a Department of Energy user facility open to scientists from universities, companies and other labs. As long as researchers publish their results in an open access journal, the department grants them free time on the system.
Here's how Time created its list and some other interesting inventions that made the cut.
Time gives special focus to AI and clean energy
For over 20 years, Time has honored inventions with the power to change the world. This year, the magazine focused on emerging industries like AI, clean energy and sustainability.
It grouped 200 inventions into 20 categories, including accessibility, beauty, design, fitness, food and drink, outdoors, parenting and sustainability. Frontier was included in the "experimental" group.
The magazine accepted online applications and nominations from its editors and correspondents. It evaluated each invention based on several factors, including "originality, efficacy, ambition and impact." In addition to the 200 best inventions, Time included 50 special mentions.
Some other inventions, from the clever to the groundbreaking, included:
OpenAI's GPT-4, the successor of ChatGPT
The Canon MS-500, the most powerful commercial camera, which can shoot clear video from six miles away at night.
The Romotow T8, a very fancy mobile home from New Zealand
The whitest paint in the world, developed by scientists at Purdue University to help fight climate change
A new kind of avocado called the Luna UCR that becomes ripe as soon as it turns black
An "invisible" solar roof tile that looks like a regular clay tile
Zurzuvae, the first pill for postpartum depression
Novo Nordisk's obesity medications, like Ozempic and Wegovy
A vaccine to save honeybees from a deadly disease
See the full list of inventions here.
Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email daniel.dassow@knoxnews.com.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Time honors Oak Ridge National Laboratory supercomputer Frontier
