For 12 years the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center has been a crown jewel of regional high technology. But a change last year in the National Science Board's funding of such facilities put the future of Pittsburgh's center in doubt.
Supercomputers are the world's most powerful thinking machines.
They do calculations for academic or corporate researchers on real-world problems hundreds of times faster than conventional computers. Despite the calculating muscle of the Cray machines and the scientific talent that has gravitated to the Pittsburgh center, the facility lacks a long-term financial plan. Although the Swissvale Democrat said the money would prevent the center's shutdown, Energy officials have been careful to note that the contract is for one year only. We're glad to see Rep. Doyle's work pay off for the center, but more efforts are needed by the two universities, the Pittsburgh High Technology Council, the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance and Gov. Ridge to find the financial support, public or private, to keep this scientific showpiece open. Pittsburgh and, to a certain extent, Pennsylvania have invested much of their image and future in an expansion of high technology.