NERSCPowering Scientific Discovery for 50 Years

50th Anniversary Seminar Series Kicks Off

Join us for a series of seminars celebrating NERSC's legacy and future in scientific supercomputing. » Read More

Boosting Carbon-Negative Building Materials

Locking greenhouse gases into building materials could store them safely for many years. Researchers using NERSC resources are advancing the science behind this idea. » Read More

NERSC Featured at APS

Watch a new video exploring NERSC's mission and impact. It was featured at the American Physical Society's annual meeting. » Read More

Getting a Peek Into Ice Giants

Scientists are using NERSC's Perlmutter supercomputer to study the interior chemistry of ice giant planets like our solar system's Neptune. » Read More

50 Years of NERSC Firsts

Get the highlights from our last half-century of scientific supercomputing. » Read More

National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center

NERSC is the mission scientific computing facility for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, the nation’s single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences.

Computing at NERSC

Now Playing

Some Scientific Computing Now in Progress at NERSC

Project System Nodes Node Hours Used
Development of Active-Learning Methods and High Throughput Simulation Datasets for Catalysis
 Basic Energy Sciences
 PI: John Kitchin, Carnegie Mellon University
perlmutter 240
Water Cycle and Climate Extremes Modeling (WACCEM)
 Biological & Environmental Research
 PI: Lai-Yung Ruby Leung, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
perlmutter 120
Energy Exascale Earth System Modeling (E3SM)
 Biological & Environmental Research
 PI: Lai-Yung Ruby Leung, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
perlmutter 44
Optoelectronic properties of bent two-dimensional materials from first-principles methods combined with machine learning
 Basic Energy Sciences
 PI: Adrienn Ruzsinszky, Temple University
perlmutter 32
Learning Aerosol-Cloud Interactions Across Scales
 ASCR Leadership Computing Challenge
 PI: Po-Lun Ma, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
perlmutter 25
3D Modelling of the Plasma Edge and Impurity Transport in Fusion Devices
 Fusion Energy Sciences
 PI: Marcos Navarro, University of Wisconsin - Madison
perlmutter 24

Did You Know?

'Bubbles' the Cray-2

Cray 2 cropped

In 1985, NERSC was the first to install the Cray-2, then the fastest computer in the world. Today, just about any mobile phone has more processing power. The Cray-2 was nicknamed "Bubbles" for its unique liquid cooling system.

 

Visit our interactive timeline to learn more about NERSC history.