Cray-1 Supercomputer 30th Anniversary

[Recorded Sept 21, 2006]
The life and machines of Seymour Cray are explored at the Computer History Museum in a panel lecture celebrating the Cray-1's 30th anniversary. Panelists include: Bill Buzbee (Los Alamos, NCAR), Bo Ewald (Los Alamos, Cray) and Jack Worlton (Los Alamos). Burton Smith (Tera, Cray) will be the evening's panel moderator.

In 1976, Cray Research, Inc. delivered its first supercomputer to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, birthplace of the atomic bomb. The Cray-1, as it was known, was the fastest computer in the world and was a blend of Cray's unique engineering style and an urgency for high performance computing borne of cold war competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.

For the next 30 years, Cray defined the limits of the possible for supercomputers by building the fastest machines in the world. In spite of the enormous influence on science and engineering of his machines, Seymour Cray himself worked in small groups in rural America and shunned publicity.

How could this one man and his hand-picked team of people build the fastest computers in the world? What does the Cray-1 tell us about the engineering, social and economic factors that coalesce into creating a stable technological artifact? Why did much larger computer companies abandon the field of supercomputing to this small but powerful foe? What, exactly, were these incredible machines used for? These topics and more are discussed.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Seymour
• Cray
• Cray-1
• Supercomputer
• Computer
• History

[humlakullen]

Yeah, but will it play Crysis..?

[indori71]

i'd like to be there

[truhlikfredy]

Wow, excellent video, I wish there was more videos like this, not featured dumb blond chicks showing they half naked body, or insane Russian risking his life. I was born in 1982 so I don't feel very worthy commenting, but anyway I couldn't resist. They should be making safety driving videos and adds explaining who else you could kill while you risk yours life. I just wonder, here are some employers if they could answer it. What was his opinion on FPGAs?

[DVAFP]

i wonder what they have now that is classified

[lostinxlation]

Started by Seymour Cray, mid 60s to mid 90s was the golden age of supercomputing. But the sad truth is that such specialized computers started to make no business sense and CD's gone, Cray's gone, Thinking machines' gone, Convex's gone, Intel's supercomputer project's gone. Only IBM and 2 others are still doing business with supercomputers today, and no new companies has been started for a long time.

[themountainviewguy]

What a wonderful and moving tribute to a great man and a great trip down memory lane.

[themountainviewguy]

The thing on the left is the IOP ... the IO/Processor, Subsystem works too, but the transparent panel that lets you peek inside let's you see-more Cray! ;-)

[themountainviewguy]

Someone forgot to mention the Fire Truck company from Chippewa Falls ... maybe they don't exist anymore. Cool presentation!

[themountainviewguy]

Apple Computer used to have a metallic purple Cray X-MP with 8MW ... that's 8 Mega 64-bit words ... 64 MBs with ECC parity. Not very poweful by todays standards.

[themountainviewguy]

You could get one for free if you can find it in a junk heap, it would just cost you a small fortune to run it, and it would break immediately if you did. You need a motor generator and cooling tower, and lost of ECL parts. I worked on a Cray-1 once. Lost of junk aluminum in one though, and copper from the power supplies. Nice video!