Prepare your visit to the Barcelona Supercomputing Center
If you want to find out how one of the world's most powerful computers works, fill in the application form and you'll be given a time and a date for exploring an amazing world.
Supercomputers are obviously nothing like the PCs that we use in our everyday lives. Despite all of the advances in home computing, the comparison is still in the tortoise and hare league. Supercomputers are designed to crunch enormous amounts of data and are used for scientific research and by public administrations and the military. Barcelona currently hosts what is considered to be one of Europe's most powerful supercomputers. Mare Nostrum 4, which started working in July, has already produced promising results in the analysis of data in connection with research projects carried out by the Polytechnic University of Barcelona. And since we can't have supercomputers at home, the only way of seeing one is to go where they're housed. The Barcelona supercomputer can be visited every day at Torre Girona.
The super computer at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center is always working, but you can walk around this enormous structure while experts explain what it does, how is does it and the results it gives. All you have to do is fill in a an application form at and send it at least one week before the visit.
You'll find additional information and the application form here.