SC11 will feature a Scientific Visualization Showcase, when the HPC event comes to Seattle from 12-18 November.
The Scientific Visualization Showcase will display scientific images and animations created by visualisation programmers, animation specialists and graphic artists to help scientists view their data in intuitive, visual and sometimes three-dimensional formats. The imagery, including still images, simulations and models built from scientific data, will be presented on large-format LCD panels set up to resemble a gallery in the hallways outside the convention centre's 6th floor exhibit space.
'We want to show the SC audience how beautiful science can be and also highlight the important role that visualisation plays in understanding scientific data,' said Kelly Gaither, director of visualisation at the Texas Advanced Computing Center and chair of the SC11 Visualization Showcase.
'The visualizations offer compelling imagery in and of themselves, but this is not art for art’s sake; it’s about increasing our understanding of science,' Gaither continued. 'Our brains rely heavily on visual information and sometimes you can understand a concept much more fully if it’s presented visually rather than as raw numbers.'
The featured visualisations capture a wide range of scientific phenomena. Among them are visualisations that illustrate the properties of magnetic fields, turbulence and blood flow, simulations of an asteroid explosion, models that predict the path of a hurricane and the flow of an oil spill, and a virtual recreation of the H1N1 virus.
