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Philip EMEAGWALI: Supercomputer Pioneer of 19

Emeagwali helped give birth to the supercomputer, the technology that spawned the Internet.

Supercomputer PioneerPhilip Emeagwali helped give birth to the supercomputer, the technology that spawned the Internet. He invented a formula that allows supercomputers powered by thousands of processors to perform the world’s fastest calculations. His discovery inspired the reinvention of computers into supercomputers that utilize thousands of processors.

A supercomputer comprises 65,000 electronic brains, or interconnected processors, that occupy the space of four tennis courts, is 100,000 times faster than a desktop computer, eats more power than a city of 5,000 residents, and costs 400 million dollars. In comparison, the Internet comprises millions of computers that are interconnected, like a supercomputer, but occupies the space of the entire Earth’s surface.

Emeagwali won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, the “Nobel Prize of Supercomputing,” CNN called him “one of the fathers of the Internet,” then-

president Bill Clinton, in a televised speech, called him “one of the great minds of the Information Age.” Last year, Emeagwali placed 35th among 100 greatest Africans and was ranked the greatest African scientist ever by the readers of New African magazine.

The New African ranked Emeagwali (third from bottom right) as history’s greatest scientist of African descent.

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Philip EMEAGWALI: Supercomputer Pioneer of 19 The Soul of the Supercomputer

During his three-decade career, Philip Emeagwali invented a formula that allows supercomputers powered by thousands of processors to perform billions of calculations per second -- a discovery that made international headlines and inspired the reinvention of supercomputers.

He has won about 100 awards including the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, which has been dubbed the “Nobel Prize of Supercomputing.” Emeagwali is the modern scientist most searched-for on the Internet.

Reinvention of the Reinvention of the SupercomputerSupercomputer After 15 years of study and research at the foci of mathematics, physics and supercomputer science, Emeagwali achieved a breakthrough in the speed of calculations which made international headlines because, until that time, no one believed that it would be possible to program thousands of inexpensive processors to outperform supercomputers.

A supercomputer is simply the world’s fastest computer at the moment. Today, the world’s fastest supercomputer costs 400 million dollars. It eats more power than a city of 5,000 residents and occupies the space of four tennis courts.

Artist's illustration of Emeagwali’s chicken vs. oxen metaphor which disproved the prevailing dogma that it would be impossible to harness the power of thousands of processors.

Emeagwali’s discovery established that the collective power of thousands of processors could indeed be harnessed. This knowledge was the crucial turning point that inspired the reinvention of supercomputers to utilize thousands of processors.

A measure of the progress made is that the laptop computer of today stores a thousand times more information than the most powerful supercomputer in 1976. Because the modern computer is the supercomputer of the past, it is believed that today's supercomputer will become the computer of the future.

Because Emeagwali helped give birth to the supercomputer and the supercomputer gave birth to the computer, Emeagwali was named during the 50th anniversary of the computer as "one of the brilliant pioneers behind this modern miracle."


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Philip EMEAGWALI: Supercomputer Pioneer of 19 Emeagwali is the only living scientist extolled at length by a United States president in a televised speech (August 26, 2000). Bill Clinton called him “one

of the great minds of the Information Age” and “the Bill Gates of Africa.”

The Reinvented Supercomputer

Emeagwali’s discovery that the collective power of thousands of processors could be harnessed, in part, inspired the reinvention of the supercomputer to utilize up to 65,000 processors and its size consequently grew to occupy the space of four tennis courts.

The above supercomputer occupies the space of three tennis courts. It is called an Earth Simulator and manufactured in Japan. It utilizes 83,000 copper wires and 2,900 kilometers (1800 miles) of cables, which is long enough to connect the cities of New York and Dallas.

Two, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, and 7-dimensional hypercube configurations, respectively. Two, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, and 7-dimensional hypercube configurations, respectively. Figure also illustrates how higher dimensional hypercube networks can be Figure also illustrates how higher dimensional hypercube networks can be constructed constructed from lower dimensional ones. from lower dimensional ones.


Philip EMEAGWALI: Supercomputer Pioneer of 19

The Soul of the InternetThe Soul of the Internet

Artist’s rendition of the HyperBall network invented by Emeagwali.

The supercomputer created the need to invent the Internet to connect supercomputer physicists. In fact, the supercomputer and the Internet are powered by similar technologies. The supercomputer is powered by thousands of processors interconnected as a hypercube, while the Internet is powered by millions of computers interconnected as a hyperball. The supercomputer is a hypercube because a hypercube topology is easier to program while the Internet evolved to a hyperball because the Earth is spherical.

The History of the Internet and many books credit Emeagwali for theorizing a HyperBall supercomputer network, which we now know as the Internet.

The network that is the heart of the Internet is shaped like an irregular hyperball. Emeagwali invented the regular hyperball network and in 1988 using a hypercube supercomputer powered by 65,536 processors to establish the world record of 3.1 billion calculations per second.

Emeagwali was described by CNN as “a father of the Internet” and profiled in the book "History of the Internet."


Philip EMEAGWALI: Supercomputer Pioneer of 19 Scientific DiscoveriesScientific DiscoveriesEmeagwali's 3.1 billion calculations per second was used to solve one of the twenty most difficult problems in supercomputing, the simulation and recovery of oil and gas from underground reservoirs. The latter discovery was accomplished by weaving together 41 discoveries in physics, mathematics (nine partial differential equations) and supercomputing (nine algorithms, networks, etc).

Emeagwali’s Networks

Three of the twelve progressively complex hypercube communication paths used by Emeagwali to harness the power of 65,536 processors. Each red dot represents the physical position of each of his 4096 computational nodes. Emeagwali programmed a 12th order network with 4096 computational nodes. The image above is for the 5th, 6th and 7th

order paths, respectively.

For the preceding 18 equations and algorithms, the petroleum industry regards Emeagwali as an “unorthodox innovator [who] has pushed back the boundaries of oilfield science” (Upstream, January 27, 1997). Emeagwali contributed to the body of knowledge used in reservoir simulators --- tools used to determine the best strategies for injecting water into an oilfield to eject oil and gas out of that field. The simulation of huge oilfields was classified in the 1980s by the United States Government as one of the twenty most difficult problems in the supercomputing field. Emeagwali won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize for, in part, solving the preceding problem by successfully encoding Newton’s second

law of motion --- a set of factual statements that describe reality --- as nine (partial differential) equations used for “seeing” inside an oilfield. Because his new equations incorporated inertial forces, they were more accurate and thus enabled enhanced oil recovery.

An oil rig

The Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM News, May 1990) wrote that “his [Emeagwali's] calculation is of real importance and… solves problems faster...,” and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (Software, May 1990) stated that “the amount of money at stake is staggering.”

Philip Emeagwali developed 18 equations

and algorithms for supercomputers. © emeagwali.com


Philip EMEAGWALI: Oration & Timeline of 19

COMMENCEMENT ORATION

Excerpt from a typical oration for Emeagwali delivered by university presidents in several countries. © 2005

Son of Africa, supercomputer pioneer, a visionary father of the Internet, we honor you.

We heed Kwame Nkrumah’s warning that, “socialism without science is void” in honoring you for crowning Africa with shining scientific discoveries. Nnamdi Azikiwe said, “Originality is the essence of true scholarship. Creativity is the soul of the true scholar.” You exemplify both.

Your discovery inspired the reinvention of computers into supercomputers and helped spawn the Internet. You discovered a formula that enables supercomputers powered by 65,000 electronic brains called "processors"

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Philip EMEAGWALI: Oration & Timeline of 19 to perform the world’s fastest calculations.You theorized that 65,000 computers around the Earth could forecast the weather. This theoretical supercomputer, with 65,000 nodes, is known today as the Internet.

For the audacity of your theorized Internet, the book “History of the Internet” and CNN called you “a father of the Internet.”

You reformulated Newton’s Second Law of Motion as 18 equations and algorithms; then as 24 million algebraic equations; and finally you programmed and executed those equations on 65,000 processors at a speed of 3.1 billion calculations per second.

Your 65,000 processors, 24 million equations and 3.1 billion calculations 7

Philip EMEAGWALI: Oration & Timeline of 19 were three world records that garnered international headlines, made mathematicians rejoice, and caused your fellow Africans to beam with pride.

When you won the 1989 Gordon Bell prize, the “Nobel Prize of Supercomputing,” then-president Bill Clinton called you, “one of the great minds of the Information Age.” The New African magazine readers ranked you ashistory's greatest scientist of African descent.

Mr. Chancellor, for his groundbreaking discoveries and for the sheer force of his mind, I ask you to confer the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, upon PHILIP EMEAGWALI.

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Clinton Extols Emeagwali as a “Great Mind”Excerpt from a speech by Bill Clinton delivered, as president, on August 26, 2000. © The Whitehouse

One of the great minds of the Information Age is a Nigerian American named Philip Emeagwali. He had to leave school because his parents couldn't pay the fees. He lived in a refugee camp during your civil war. He won a scholarship to university and went on to invent a formula that lets computers make 3.1 billion calculations per second. (Applause.) Some people call him the Bill Gates of Africa. (Laughter and applause.) But what I want to say to you is there is another Philip Emeagwali -- or hundreds of them -- or thousands of them -- growing up in Nigeria today. I thought about it when I was driving in from the airport and then driving around to my appointments, looking into the face of children. You never know what potential is in their mind and in their heart; what

imagination they have; what they have already thought of and dreamed of that may be locked in because they don't have the means to take it out. That's really what education is. It's our responsibility to make sure all your children have the chance to live their dreams so that you don't miss the benefit of their contributions and neither does the rest of the world. It's in our interest in America to reach out to the 98 percent of the human race that has never connected to the Internet.

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Emeagwali on Supercomputers [Excerpt from a speech delivered by Emeagwali at an information technology conference in Ottawa, Canada © 2005]

The supercomputer is perceived as a new technology but the fundamental idea that drives it is as old as humanity. This fundamental concept is simple - a large problem is made small and solvable when it is shared amongst thousands of brains, processors or computers. Or “many hands make light work.”

Supercomputers utilize thousands of processors because a thousand processors are generally a thousand times more powerful than a single processor.

But a few years ago, this idea was a mystery. We did not fully understand how to apply this idea to harness the power of thousands of processors.

Because we named it a “supercomputer” we first think of “computing” when the word “supercomputer” is mentioned.” We focused on computing, but that wasn’t the problem.

The problem was about communication between and within supercomputers.

And my focus was on communicating. You can have a hundred of the greatest minds in the world in one room and working on the same problem, but if they don’t communicate, it is no different than having any one of them working the problem alone.

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Philip EMEAGWALI: Oration & Timeline of 19 Emeagwali’s Equations

CNN extolled Emeagwali for using “his mathematical and computer expertise to develop methods for extracting more petroleum from oil fields.” Emeagwali explains:

While the mathematics behind my 18 equations and algorithms is complex the fundamental idea is simple.My 18 formulas build on the four primary forces inside an oil field, namely pressure, gravitation, viscosity and inertia (acceleration).

Your weight is a measure of the acceleration force exerted by the Earth upon your body. If you stand on a bathroom scale inside an elevator your weight increases (decreases) as you travel upward (or downward).

Previously, geologists assumed that acceleration forces (oil weight) remain the same as oil flows towards and upwards of an oil well. Using the elevator analogy, I proved that acceleration forces could not be ignored within an oil field.

Utilizing advanced mathematical methods and incorporating inertial forces, I developed a more powerful set of 18 supercomputer formulas that

will increase the amount of oil recovered. The U.S. government called it one of the twenty most difficult problems in supercomputing. The petroleum industry purchases ten percent of all supercomputers to increase the amount of oil recovered.



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Philip EMEAGWALI: Oration & Timeline of 19 TIMELINETIMELINE1921. James Nnaemeka Emeagwali (father of Philip) born in May in Onitsha, Nigeria.

1938. Agatha Emeagwali, née Balonwu, (mother of Philip) born on August 7 in Onitsha.

1954 Chukwurah Emeagwali born on August 23 in Akure, Nigeria.

1956 Baptized as “Philip” by William Obelagu at Saint Mary's Catholic Church, Onitsha, in August.

1960 Nigeria gains independence from Great Britain on October 1.

1962 Philip (far right) in family photo taken on December 24 in Uromi, Nigeria.

1966 Nigerian military overthrows elected government. Fifty thousand Igbos killed in street uprising. Two million became refugees.

1967 Nigerian-Biafran war begins in May. One million died in 30-month war.

1968 Emeagwali family fled Onitsha for the fourth and final time. Lived in refugee camps for two additional years.

1969 Emeagwali conscripted into the Biafran army in August, sent to Oguta war front, returns to become a cook for Army Officers at Ndoni, Biafra.

1970 Biafran army defeated in January. Emeagwali is discharged from the Biafran army. 1974 Emeagwali wins a mathematics scholarship and arrives in Oregon (U.S.) on March 24.

1981 Marries Dale Brown on August 15 in Baltimore, Maryland. Continues scientific research at the U.S. National Weather Service.

1983 Obtains U.S. permanent residency visas for his 35 closest relatives.

1987 Programs 65,536 electronic brains, called processors, at Los Alamos National Lab. (the birthplace of the atomic bomb) to perform the world’s fastest calculation.

1989 Wins the Gordon Bell Prize alone, the equivalent in the supercomputer industry of the Nobel Prize.

2000 Bill Clinton extols Emeagwali as “one of the great minds of the Information Age” in a televised speech as president.

2004 New African magazine poll ranks Emeagwali as history’s greatest scientist of African descent.

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2005 Philip, Dale and Ijeoma Emeagwali, June Philip, Dale and Ijeoma Emeagwali, June 8.8.

World’s Fastest Calculation In 1987, Emeagwali programmed 65,636 electronic brains, called processors, at Los Alamos National Laboratory (the birthplace of the atomic bomb) to perform the world’s fastest calculation. Emeagwali explains:

I was asked to share today the story I was asked to share today the story behind my supercomputer discovery. Itbehind my supercomputer discovery. It would require several books to tell the would require several books to tell the whole story, but I will share a short onewhole story, but I will share a short one that I have never told anyone. that I have never told anyone.

The journey of discovery to my The journey of discovery to my supercomputer was a titanic, one-man supercomputer was a titanic, one-man struggle. It was like climbing Mount struggle. It was like climbing Mount Everest. On many occasions I felt like Everest. On many occasions I felt like giving up. Because I was traumatized giving up. Because I was traumatized by the racism I had encountered in by the racism I had encountered in science, I maintained a self-imposed science, I maintained a self-imposed silence on the supercomputer silence on the supercomputer discovery that is my claim to fame. discovery that is my claim to fame.

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I will share with you a supercomputing I will share with you a supercomputing insight that even the experts in my insight that even the experts in my field did not know then and do not field did not know then and do not know now. In the 1980s, know now. In the 1980s, supercomputers could perform only supercomputers could perform only millions of calculations per second and,millions of calculations per second and, therefore, their timers were designed therefore, their timers were designed to measure only millions of calculationsto measure only millions of calculations per second. per second.

But I was performing billions of But I was performing billions of calculations per second and calculations per second and unknowingly attempting to time it with unknowingly attempting to time it with a supercomputer timer, which was a supercomputer timer, which was designed to measure millions of designed to measure millions of calculations per second. I assumed my calculations per second. I assumed my timer could measure one-billionth of a timer could measure one-billionth of a second. It took me two years to realize second. It took me two years to realize my timer was off a thousand fold. I wasmy timer was off a thousand fold. I was operating beyond a supercomputer’s operating beyond a supercomputer’s limitations, but I did not know it. The limitations, but I did not know it. The supercomputer designers did not supercomputer designers did not expect their timers to be used to expect their timers to be used to measure calculations at that rate. measure calculations at that rate.

I almost gave up because I could not I almost gave up because I could not time and reproduce my calculations time and reproduce my calculations which, in turn, meant I could not share which, in turn, meant I could not share them, two years earlier, with the world.them, two years earlier, with the world. After years of research, my After years of research, my

supercomputer’s timer was the only supercomputer’s timer was the only thing stopping me from getting the thing stopping me from getting the recognition I deserved. I realized the recognition I deserved. I realized the timer was wrong, but I could not timer was wrong, but I could not explain why. I spent two years mulling explain why. I spent two years mulling over why the timer was wrong. It took over why the timer was wrong. It took two long and lonely years to discover two long and lonely years to discover why I could not time my calculations. why I could not time my calculations.

My 3.1 billion calculations per second, My 3.1 billion calculations per second, which were then the world’s fastest, which were then the world’s fastest, were simply too fast for the were simply too fast for the supercomputer’s timer. supercomputer’s timer.

What I learned from that experience What I learned from that experience was not to quit when faced with an was not to quit when faced with an insurmountable obstacle – and that insurmountable obstacle – and that believing in yourself makes all the believing in yourself makes all the difference. I learned to take a step difference. I learned to take a step backward and evaluate the options: backward and evaluate the options: Should I go through, above, under, or Should I go through, above, under, or around the obstacle? Quitting, I around the obstacle? Quitting, I decided, was not an option. Indeed, thedecided, was not an option. Indeed, the old saying is true: When the going getsold saying is true: When the going gets tough, the tough get going. tough, the tough get going.

Looking back, I learned that most Looking back, I learned that most limitations in life are self-imposed. You limitations in life are self-imposed. You have to make things happen, not just have to make things happen, not just watch things happen. To succeed, you watch things happen. To succeed, you must constantly reject complacency. must constantly reject complacency.

I learned I could set high objectives I learned I could set high objectives and goals and achieve them. The and goals and achieve them. The secret to my success is that I am secret to my success is that I am constantly striving for continuous constantly striving for continuous improvements in my life and that I am improvements in my life and that I am never satisfied with my achievements. never satisfied with my achievements.

The myth that a genius must have The myth that a genius must have above-average intelligence is just that, above-average intelligence is just that, a myth. Geniuses are people who learna myth. Geniuses are people who learn to create their own positive to create their own positive reinforcements when their experimentsreinforcements when their experiments yield negative results. Perseverance is yield negative results. Perseverance is the key. My goal was to go beyond the the key. My goal was to go beyond the known, to a territory no one had ever known, to a territory no one had ever reached. reached.

I learned that if you want success I learned that if you want success badly enough and believe in yourself, badly enough and believe in yourself,

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Philip EMEAGWALI: Oration & Timeline of 19 then you can attain your goals and then you can attain your goals and become anything you want in life. become anything you want in life.

The greatest challenge in your life is toThe greatest challenge in your life is to look deep within yourself to see the look deep within yourself to see the greatness that is inside you, and those greatness that is inside you, and those around you. around you.

The history books may deprive African The history books may deprive African children of the heroes with whom they children of the heroes with whom they can identify, but in striving for your can identify, but in striving for your own goals, you can become that hero own goals, you can become that hero for them – and your own hero, too. for them – and your own hero, too.

I once believed my supercomputer I once believed my supercomputer discovery was more important than thediscovery was more important than the journey that got me there. I now journey that got me there. I now understand the journey to discovery is understand the journey to discovery is more important than the discovery more important than the discovery itself; that the journey also requires a itself; that the journey also requires a belief in your own abilities. belief in your own abilities.

I learned that no matter how often you I learned that no matter how often you fall down, or how hard you fall down, fall down, or how hard you fall down, what is most important is that you rise what is most important is that you rise up and continue until you reach your up and continue until you reach your goal. goal.

It’s true, some heroes are never It’s true, some heroes are never recognized, but what’s important is recognized, but what’s important is that they recognize themselves. It is that they recognize themselves. It is that belief in yourself, that focus, and that belief in yourself, that focus, and

that inner conviction that you are on that inner conviction that you are on the right path, that will get you the right path, that will get you through life’s obstacles. through life’s obstacles.

If we can give our children pride in If we can give our children pride in their past, then we can show them their past, then we can show them what they can be and give them the what they can be and give them the self-respect that will make them self-respect that will make them succeed. succeed.

This is a figure of the topology of my This is a figure of the topology of my computational space.computational space.

Log on to emeagwali.net for audio versionof the above speech transcript.

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Philip EMEAGWALI: Oration & Timeline of 19 TIMELINE:TIMELINE: New knowledge builds upon old knowledge and the names of New knowledge builds upon old knowledge and the names of most contributors were lost in the mist of antiquity. Here are some of the discoveriesmost contributors were lost in the mist of antiquity. Here are some of the discoveries leadingleadingto the supercomputer and Internet.to the supercomputer and Internet.

469 B.C. The oldest computing equipment, the Abacus, invented in China.

An Abacus computing equipment

200 B.C. The water clock invented in the Nile Valley of Africa. This technology inspired the development of early computers.

100 A.D. Mathematician Heron describes the first sequence control, a technique that made it possible to predict an output for a given input which, in turn, laid the foundation for computer programming or the prediction of an output for a given input.

476 A.D. The number zero introduced by Indian mathematician Aryabhatta. The Internet and a supercomputer only understand two numbers: 0 and 1.

800 A.D. Persian mathematician Muhammed idn Musa Al-Khwarizmi publishes his influential book Al-jabr wa'l muqabalah. The words “Al-Khwarizmi” and “Al-jabr wa'l” were corrupted to algorithm and algebra, respectively.

1398 The word "compotystes" is coined by the writer Trevisa to describe a person that calculates time.

Two hundred and fifty years later, the word “compotystes” was corrupted to "computer," describing a person that calculates.

1621 The second oldest computing equipment, the slide rule, is invented.

1922 Lewis Richardson wrote that “64,000 computers would be needed to race the weather for the whole globe.” In 1975, Emeagwali theorized the latter as an interconnected HyperBall supercomputer, which is roughly equivalent to the Internet, but implemented it as a hypercube in 1987.

1946 The supercomputer was invented as a single electronic computer.

1970s The Internet was invented as a dozen interconnected

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Philip EMEAGWALI: Oration & Timeline of 19 supercomputers around the United States.

1980s The Internet was reinvented as millions of interconnected computers around the world.

1990 The supercomputer was reinvented as thousands of interconnected computers.

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CHRONOLOGY CHRONOLOGY - of- of discoveries leading to Emeagwali’s 18discoveries leading to Emeagwali’s 18 equations and algorithms.equations and algorithms.

1680 BC The African mathematician Ahmes wrote the oldest mathematics textbook with solutions of equation.

325 BC Euclid, “a father of geometry” was born in the Nile Valley. He published The Elements, the second most reprinted book in history.

800 AD Persian mathematician Muhammed idn Musa Al-Khwarizmi publishes his influential book Al-jabr wa'l muqabalah. The words “Al-Khwarizmi” and “Al-jabr wa'l” were corrupted to algorithm and algebra, respectively.

1590 Galileo publishes “Du Motu,” his experiments on falling objects. In 1616, the Catholic Church prohibited him from conducting scientific research.

1621 Johann Kepler’s “The Epitome of Copernican Astronomer” banned by the Catholic Church.

1666 Sir Isaac Newton formulates the universal laws of motion and gravitation and co-invented calculus.

1759 Leonhard Euler synthesized the techniques of calculus and Newton’s second law of motion to obtain the first partial differential equations governing frictionless fluid flow.

1845 George Stokes improved upon Euler’s and Navier’s (1822) work, by rederiving the Navier-Stokes equations.

1856 Henry Darcy formulates "Darcy's Law," the foundation of petroleum reservoir simulation.

1932 The first drilled oil well. Two decades later, the oil well created a need for petroleum reservoir simulators.

1934 Paul Fillunger (and his wife) committed suicide in protest against the rejection of his formulation of the mathematical equations for porous media.

1946 The modern electronic computer is invented, making it practical to develop petroleum reservoir simulators.

1973 OPEC oil embargo stimulates interest in enhanced oil recovery technologies and reservoir simulators implemented on one processor supercomputers.

1989 Emeagwali rejects Darcy’s Law and develops nine equations that unifies Fillunger’s equations and Newton’s second law of motion and invents nine algorithms that enable 65,536 cooperating processors to increase the amount of oil recovered.



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