Since the first supercomputers came online in the 1960s and ’70s, they have earned a reputation as high-powered workhorses helping researchers conduct complex calculations. Typically found at major universities and research facilities, the massive machines — which at one time could occupy more than an acre of space in a data center — were often used in science: quantum mechanical physics, molecular modeling or mapping the human genome. Some jobs were less esoteric: IBM’s Deep Blue earned fame in the chess world as an opponent of grand master Garry Kasparov.
