Monte Carlo: in the beginning and some great expectations

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0049035· OSTI ID:5697932

Metropolis, N

The central theme will be on the historical setting and origins of the Monte Carlo Method. The scene was post-war Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. There was an inevitability about the Monte Carlo Event: the ENIAC had recently enjoyed its meteoric rise (on a classified Los Alamos problem); Stan Ulam had returned to Los Alamos; John von Neumann was a frequent visitor. Techniques, algorithms, and applications developed rapidly at Los Alamos. Soon, the fascination of the Method reached wider horizons. The first paper was submitted for publication in the spring of 1949. In the summer of 1949, the first open conference was held at the University of California at Los Angeles. Of some interst perhaps is an account of Fermi's earlier, independent application in neutron moderation studies while at the University of Rome. The quantum leap expected with the advent of massively parallel processors will provide stimuli for very ambitious applications of the Monte Carlo Method in disciplines ranging from field theories to cosmology, including more realistic models in the neurosciences. A structure of multi-instruction sets for parallel processing is ideally suited for the Monte Carlo approach. One may even hope for a modest hardening of the soft sciences.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5697932
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-85-1202; CONF-8504110-3; ON: DE85010789
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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659000* -- Communication
Education
History
& Philosophy-- (-1987)
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COMPUTERS
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
MONTE CARLO METHOD