ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Quantum Mechanics and the Development of Computers in the 1920s and 1930s

• In Event: CTRL ALT SHIFT. Expériences, Knowledge, Activism, Methods - 1

English Abstract

Solving the quantum mechanical description of molecules — quantum chemistry — has long been among the most demanding applications of high-performance computing and is a key driver in the development of quantum computing. The field’s computational intensity is not new: as early as 1929, Paul Dirac remarked on the formidable such difficulty of applying quantum mechanics to chemical systems. These challenges initially spurred the use and development of novel computational devices, differential analyzers. James and Coolidge used Bush’s differential analyzer, while Hartree and Lennard-Jones each got one built specifically for quantum chemistry. Although the trajectories of computing and quantum chemistry diverged during World War II, many of the same pioneers went on to shape the rise of electronic computing. This talk will explore the intertwined early history of computers and quantum mechanics.

Author

• Patrick Charbonneau, Duke University