The computer BESK and an early attempt to simulate galactic dynamics [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.01795


The first N-body simulation of interacting galaxies, even producing spiral arms, was performed by Erik Holmberg in Lund (1941), not with a numerical computer, but by his arrangement of movable light-bulbs and photocells to measure the luminosity at each bulb and thereby estimate the gravitational force. A decade later, and with the arrival of the first programable computers, computations of galactic dynamics were performed, which were later transferred into a N-body simulation movie. I present here the background details for this work with a description of the important elements to note in the movie which may be retrieved at this http URL .

Read this paper on arXiv…

P. Lindblad
Mon, 9 Mar 15
8/51

Comments: Introducing the numerical computation work carried out by Per Olof Lindblad in the 1950s. See also this http URL for further documentation and to view the numerical simulation movie