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The John von Neumann Computer Center: An Analysis
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The Lax Report

The weight of argument in the reports from these studies and proposals moved NSF to appoint Peter Lax, of New York University, an NSF Board Member, as chairman of a committee to organize a Panel on Large-Scale Computing in Science and Engineering. The panel was sponsored jointly by NSF and the Department of Defense in cooperation with the Department of Energy and NASA. The end product of this activity was the "Report of the Panel on Large-Scale Computing in Science and Engineering," usually referred to as the Lax Report, dated December 26, 1982.

The recommendations of the panel were straightforward and succinct. The overall recommendation was for the establishment of a national program to support the expanded use of high-performance computers. Four components to the program were

• increased access to supercomputing facilities for scientific and engineering research;

• increased research in computational mathematics, software, and algorithms;

• training of personnel in high-performance computing; and

• research and development for the implementation of new supercomputer systems.

The panel indicated that insufficient funds were being expended at the time and suggested an interagency and interdisciplinary national program.


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The John von Neumann Computer Center: An Analysis
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