Some Discoveries made by Scientific Computation in Astrophysics

James M. Stone

Astrophysics, Princeton University

Computation is becoming an ever more important tool for discovery in all areas of science. However, there are few disciplines where computation has had a longer history, or has made a deeper impact, than astrophysics. This is primarily because the traditional mode of inquiry based on laboratory experiment is not open to astrophysicists. Some of the most basic facts we have discovered about the Universe (for example, the temperature at the center of the Sun) are known only through the application of computational methods. I will review some important discoveries in astrophysics made through the use of computation in the last century, describe the algorithms and computational platforms that were necessary to make such discoveries, and conclude with some predictions about what we will discover through computation (and only because of computation) in the coming century.