E-Science
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The correct title of this article is e-Science. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
The term e-Science (or eScience) is used to describe computationally intensive science that is carried out in highly distributed network environments, or science that uses immense data sets that require grid computing; the term sometimes includes technologies that enable distributed collaboration, such as the Access Grid. The term was created by John Taylor, the Director General of the United Kingdom's Office of Science and Technology in 1999 and was used to describe a large funding initiative starting in November 2000. Examples of the kind of science include social simulations, particle physics, earth sciences and bio-informatics. Particle physics has a particularly well developed e-Science infrastructure due to their need for adequate computing facilities for the analysis of results and storage of data originating from the CERN Large Hadron Collider, which is due to start taking data in 2007.
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[edit] Characteristics and examples of e-Science
Due to the complexity of the software and the backend infrastructural requirements, e-Science projects usually involve large teams managed and developed by research laboratories, large universities or governments. Currently there is a large focus in e-Science is in the United Kingdom, where the UK e-Science programme provides significant funding.
Development of e-Science is also advanced in Europe where the development of computing capabilities to support the CERN Large Hadron Collider has led to the development of e-Science and Grid infrastructures which are also used by other disciplines.
[edit] The UK e-Science programme
The UK e-Science programme comprises a wide range of resources, centres and people including the National e-Science Centre (NeSC) which is managed by the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, with facilities in both cities.
Within the UK there are various regional e-Science centres, which support their local universities and projects, including:
- Belfast e-Science Centre (BeSC)
- Cambridge e-Science Centre (CeSC)
- CCLRC e-Science Centre (CCLRCeSC)
- e-Science North West (eSNW)
- Grid Support Centre (GSC)
- Lancaster University Centre for e-Science
- London e-Science Centre (LeSC)
- North East Regional e-Science Centre (NEReSC)
- Oxford e-Science Centre (OeSC)
- Southampton e-Science Centre (SeSC)
- Welsh e-Science Centre (WeSC)
There are also various centres of excellence and research centres which have a strong impact on e-Science.
[edit] The US projects
US-based initiatives, where the term cyberinfrastructure is typically used to define e-Science projects, are primarily funded by the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy (in particular the Office of Science). NSF's Office of Cyberinfrastructure, for example, supports the TeraGrid project which provides integrated resources and services operated by some of the nation's supercomputing centers including:
- Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
- National Center for Supercomputing Applications
- National Center for Atmospheric Research
- Texas Advanced Computing Center
- San Diego Supercomputer Center
and partner high-performance computing centers at
The Department of Energy also supports e-Science through high performance computing and other initiatives involving its laboratories, including, among others:
- Argonne National Laboratory
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
