ABSTRACT

Computer simulation, at the molecular level, has grown enormously in importance over the last 50 years. Affordable computer chips have historically doubled in power every 18 months, so the computer simulator, regarded as an experimentalist, has the unique advantage of rapidly improving apparatus. With the recent explosion in personal computing, there seems every prospect that this situation will continue, allowing computer simulation to become of even more practical value in fields such as the design of drugs and molecular materials. This provides a stimulus to develop simulation methods, and an industry has grown up marketing the necessary software.