Issues

While physicists debate which computer language is best and which computing philosophy is right, they are busy using computers to study subjects ranging from quarks to models of the Universe.

Experimentalists in particle physics have long regarded computers as essential components of their apparatus and now theorists are finding that significant advances in some areas can only be accomplished in partnership with a machine.

Experimenters use computers to control experiments and to gather and analyze data; theorists use them for detailed predictions based on realistic models and for studies on systems not realizable in practice.

Computers of all sizes are assisting in theoretical calculations of increasing sophistication and precision, and in the design, direction and analysis of experiments.