In 2014, the first World Internet Conference · Wuzhen Summit opened in Wuzhen, Tongxiang, a water town in the south of the Yangtze River, which was also the year that the number of mobile phone Internet users in mainland China exceeded that of traditional PCs for the first time.
10 years have passed, but the Internet topic in Wuzhen has never stopped. From the original 5G, to big data, artificial intelligence, to today's trend-leading large model, "Pillow Water Wuzhen" has transformed into "Wuzhen on the Cloud".
Now, there's a new key to technology unlocked – supercomputing. At the 2021 World Internet Conference, the "Light of Wuzhen" supercomputing center was officially completed.
On July 25th, the Zhejiang Provincial Association for Science and Technology "into the new quality of productivity" series of popular science activities into the "Wuzhen Light" supercomputing center, Tongxiang Association for Science and Technology organized the students of the modern experimental school, they with curiosity and 317,000 netizens together to experience the scientific charm of the "strongest brain" in Zhejiang Province.
What is the mystery of the only supercomputing center in the province?
Last year, as the National Supercomputing Center in Wuzhen successfully passed the strict acceptance of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China and was officially included in the National Supercomputing Center sequence, Zhejiang finally had its own National Supercomputing Center - the only one in the province and the 14th such supercomputing center in the country, filling the gap in this high-tech field in Zhejiang.
When the children walked into the exhibition hall of the National Supercomputing Center in Wuzhen with curiosity, it was as if they had stepped into a place where technology and the future converged. Here, the children had an in-depth understanding of how the supercomputing center takes chips as the core and builds a complete and independent industrial chain and industrial chain around "core-device-cloud-computing". From the design and manufacturing of chips to the development of terminal products, to cloud data processing and services, every link embodies the hard work and wisdom of scientific researchers. Through the intuitive display, the children felt the power of scientific and technological innovation and its far-reaching impact on modern society.
Subsequently, everyone stepped into the "Light of Wuzhen" supercomputing center, which contains incredible computing power. How fast is it? If 1.4 billion people across the country work together to perform one calculation per second, they will have to work tirelessly for four consecutive years, and these "lights of Wuzhen" can be completed in just one second.
Stepping into the supercomputing center, there are rows of supercomputers neatly arranged in the computer room. The instructor introduced that "Wuzhen Light" adopts the world's leading immersive phase change liquid cooling technology, which ensures that these high-performance computers can operate stably without interruption by immersing the components in a special cooling liquid.
So, what can this magical "Wuzhen Light" supercomputing center count?
The instructor told everyone, "Simply put, it can count the sky, the earth, and the people." "For example, during the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, the Zhejiang Provincial Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and Early Warning and Forecasting Platform achieved a leap in forecast accuracy with the help of the powerful computing power of the supercomputing center - the minimum unit space of the forecast was accurate from the original 16 square kilometers to 1 square kilometer, and the forecast duration was extended from 7 days to 15 days. Not only that, the application scope of the supercomputing center also covers many cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, smart cities, and life sciences, providing strong support for scientific research and social development.
How fast is supercomputing developing in mainland China?
After visiting the shocking supercomputing center, Mr. Jiang, the operation manager of Wuzhen Supercomputing Center, brought a master class on "supercomputing" to the children, unveiling the mystery of supercomputing for the children.
What is Supercomputing? Mr. Jiang told everyone that a supercomputer, as the name suggests, is actually a computer with strong computing power, which can perform a large amount of data and tasks that ordinary computers or servers cannot handle. The key indicators used to measure supercomputing are not only the computing speed, but also the data storage capacity and system efficiency.
At present, the world's supercomputing centers are mainly distributed in countries and regions with developed science and technology, such as United States, China, Europe and Japan. These regions have strong scientific research strength and economic foundation, which can support the construction and operation of supercomputing centers. According to the ranking of the world's top 500 supercomputers, the world's number one supercomputer is "Frontier", which is jointly developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory in United States and AMD.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the computing field in mainland China has entered a stage of rapid development, and has begun to invest heavily in independent research and development, and a number of high-performance computing technologies and products with independent intellectual property rights have emerged.
So why are we so involved in supercomputing? What kind of changes can supercomputing bring to our lives?
Supercomputing can be used in a wide range of applications, not only in scientific research and industrial production, but also in our social services. Today, the "Wuzhen Light" supercomputing center has become a strong backing in the field of scientific research, providing strong computing power support for many key laboratories, including Wuzhen Laboratory, Zhijiang Laboratory, and Nanhu Laboratory, and helping researchers make important breakthroughs in materials science, biomedicine, astrophysics and other fields.
Mr. Jiang also shared with you the great changes brought by the development of high-performance computing to the automotive design industry. With high-performance computing, automotive designers and engineers can simulate and analyze every component and overall performance of a vehicle with unprecedented speed and accuracy, improving design efficiency and quality.
In addition, in the field of film and television, which we are familiar with, high-performance computing can also play a huge role. Nowadays, many movies use a large number of virtual images, bringing unprecedented visual feasts to the audience. However, ordinary computers have limited computing power, which makes it difficult to cope with large-scale data processing and complex rendering requirements. For example, the science fiction movie "Avatar" uses the powerful computing power of high-performance computers to successfully shape a Pandora planet full of strange plants and creatures - every leaf and stone on the planet is finely rendered to present stunning visual effects.
How is supercomputing changing our lives?
· Application in the field of scientific research
"Climate Modelling and Prediction"
High-performance computers are used to conduct large-scale climate simulations to improve the accuracy of climate prediction and provide a scientific basis for responding to global climate change.
"The Evolution of Life"
Through high-performance computing, we can deeply mine biological big data to reveal the mysteries of life phenomena and promote the development of biomedical research.
"Astrophysical Modelling"
With the help of high-performance computing, the movement and evolution of celestial bodies in the universe are simulated to deepen our understanding of the mysteries of the universe.
· Application in the field of industrial production
"Automotive Design & Simulation"
High-performance computing technology is used to refine the design and crash simulation of automobiles to improve the safety performance and R&D efficiency of automobiles.
"Petroleum Exploration and Development"
Geological data is processed and analyzed through high-performance computing to assist oil exploration decision-making and reduce development costs.
"New Material R&D"
Use high-performance computing to simulate the structure and properties of new materials, accelerate the research and development cycle of new materials, and promote the progress of materials science.
· Application in the field of social services
"Smart City Construction"
With the help of high-performance computing, it integrates urban operation data, optimizes city management and services, and improves the quality of life of urban residents.
"Healthcare Big Data Analytics"
Massive medical and health data is mined and analyzed through high-performance computing to provide strong support for disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
"Financial Risk Assessment"
High-performance computing technology is used to monitor and analyze financial market data in real time, discover potential risks in time, and ensure the stable operation of the financial market.
["Into the New Quality Productivity" series of popular science activities]
With the rapid development of science and technology, new quality productivity is reshaping our world at an unprecedented rate. Zhejiang Association for Science and Technology actively responds to the call of the times and strives to create a series of popular science activities of "entering new quality productivity", aiming to deepen the popular science education of young people, relying on the unique "315" scientific and technological innovation system of Zhejiang Province and the forward-looking "9+6" future industrial layout, leading the public to enter the frontier of science and technology, perceive the charm of science and technology, improve the scientific quality of the whole people, and draw a blueprint for innovation and development.
The 2024 Zhejiang Association for Science and Technology "Into the New Quality Productivity" series of popular science activities will build a bridge between the public and cutting-edge science and technology in the form of rich and diverse scenarios, experiences and immersive science popularization, and jointly explore the innovation context of eight future industries such as synthetic biology, gene editing, brain science and artificial intelligence, hydrogen energy storage, aerospace information, ground-air integration, metaverse, and deep earth and deep sea.