MIT Students Run Supercomputer On Pedal Power

December 20, 2007 6:51 p.m. EST

Boston, MA (AHN) - A virtual nuclear fusion reaction has been modeled on a supercomputer running for 20 minutes on bicycle power pedaled by 10 cyclists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The students duly claimed a world record for human-powered computing, saying the task produced more computations in those 20 minutes than all of humanity did in the first 3,000 years of civilization.

They also said that more arithmetic calculations were computed than were done on the entire earth up to 1960.

The bicycle wheels drove the dynamos to generate direct current power which was converted into the alternating current.

They used a SiCortex SC648 supercomputer with a Linux cluster of 648 CPUs, a system that is low-powered and draws 1,200 watts without needing special power supplies or cooling.

The MIT team was highlighting the need for sustainable energy supplies, competing for a Google prize and an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. Google.

A bike company sponsored an Innovate or Die contest with contestants having to use bike power and post a video of their submission on Google-owned YouTube to win $5,000 for the team and a specialized bike for each member.