The Grid Grew from Physicists’ Computing Needs

Abstract

Foster replies: I appreciated Maurice Jacob’s thoughtful comments on the important role that physics and physicists often play in advancing information technology. I believe strongly in the use of challenging practical problems as drivers for IT R&D; such problems serve to focus on the real issues and provide rapid, if sometimes painful, feedback when apparently good ideas do not work. I am also convinced that, to achieve the order-of-magnitude performance improvements promised by Grids, we must engage not only discipline specialists but also computer scientists: for better or worse, it is no longer sufficient to view IT issues as secondary to the physics. For these reasons, I and many of my colleagues are so excited about current Grid projects, many of which involve genuine multidisciplinary partnerships focused on extremely challenging problems.Jacob speaks more specifically to the important role that CERN has long played in IT. In a brief overview article, I could not discuss specific projects; with more space, I would have written at length about the plans and achievements of the CERN-led European Union Data Grid and DataTAG projects, the pioneering work at Italy’s National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), and other physics-focused Grid initiatives. (A list of project URLs can be found at http://www.mcs.anl.gov/~foster/grid-projects.) I would also have discussed the various virtual observatory projects (see Physics Today 0031-9228 55 2 2002 20 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1461322. February 2002, page 20 ), and environmental data Grid efforts. I hope that Jacob’s letter and my response will clarify that physics problems and physicists are indeed central to the emergence and evolution of Grid computing.We must all hope, as Jacob suggests, that physics will continue to have the opportunity to pose IT challenges of the magnitude associated with the LHC. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.