Philip Emeagwali, a Nigerian also known as Calculus, has received widespread recognition for his extraordinary achievements in the field of high-performance computing. At the age of just 14, he had already mastered mathematics and was even able to out-calculate his teachers.
Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, Philip had to leave school. However, he persisted in his studies and eventually earned a general certificate of education from the University of London. He was then awarded a full scholarship to Oregon State University, where he majored in mathematics.
After completing his undergraduate studies, Philip went on to earn two master’s degrees from George Washington University, one in marine engineering and one in civil engineering. He also earned a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Maryland and a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Michigan.
Philip’s most notable accomplishment was the creation of The Connection Machine, a program he developed that resolved a 350-year-old packing problem which was regarded as one of the most difficult unsolved mathematical puzzles at the time. The Connection Machine, which was the first supercomputer in history, used 65,000 parallel-connected computers to create the world’s fastest computer. It was capable of performing more calculations per second – 3.1 billion – than the theoretical peak performance of the Cray Supercomputer.
In addition to The Connection Machine, Philip also created the Hyperball computer, which could predict long-term trends in global warming. For his work, he was awarded the Gordon Bell Prize in 1989 for creating high-performance computing programs that modeled oil reservoirs using computational fluid dynamics.
Philip’s incredible achievements in the field of high-performance computing have earned him widespread recognition and praise. He is a true inspiration to young people everywhere, demonstrating that with hard work and perseverance, anything is possible.
This also is a clear indication that no matter your background and the constrains with perseverance you are sure to break the boundaries.
Phillip from a West African country with limited opportunities to making waves on the big stage with his unique invention.
