The History of the Department of Defense High-Performance Computing Modernization Program

Computing has changed science and engineering since the introduction of the first general-purpose scientific computer in 1946, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), produced by the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering for the Army. The ENIAC was created for studying the science of ballistics and for the development, testing, and fielding of Army ordnance and creation of associated firing tables. Since that time, computing has provided access to larger-parameter spaces for design, analyzed more cases in a given unit of time or budget, provided access to phenomena not measurable or to conditions not accessible to experimentation, completed production and analysis of ever-larger data sets, and even contributed to mathematical proofs (e.g., the four-color theorem). In turn, science and engineering continue to change computing, creating demand for ever-larger and faster platforms and illuminating new phenomena that lead to new materials, components, fabrication techniques, architectures, and entirely new types of computing. We describe the Department of Defense High-Performance Computing Modernization Program, the environment in which it was created, the people who helped bring it into existence, and the impact it has had on science and engineering, problem solving, and ultimately, on our primary customer, the Warfighter.