They're like space-age divining rods, and they'll operate much more swiftly and accurately as a result of Emeagwali's work. I wanted to work on something useful. His interest in parallel computations led him to choose the Connection Machine for his research because it uses 65,000 processors working simultaneously on calculations. It is radically different from conventional supercomputers, which use eight high-powered processors. He developed equations to simulate movement of fluid in underground reservoirs by modifying a set of equations designed and then abandoned by a Russian mathematician in 1938.
Speed is the key in solving the equations.
Desktop personal computers would take years to solve problems that supercomputers can tackle in minutes. Emeagwali's equations drastically speed up supercomputers designed like the Connection Machine. Emeagwali expects his computations to be applicable to a number of other significant problems. Calculating the movement of buried nuclear waste, tracking the spread of AIDS, improving the accuracy of weather prediction and testing for automobile safety all can be accomplished inexpensively and quickly through computer simulation, he says. A relative newcomer to the field of scientific computation, Emeagwali admits his choice of the Connection Machine and his solitary working style are unorthodox.