Supercomputer based laboratories and the evolution of the personal computer based laboratory

The increase in availability of open source research quality simulation software coupled with a reduction in barriers to high performance computer hardware access and new methods for adding interactivity to server-side web services have created a rich environment for the development of supercomputer based laboratories to augment the many personal computer based activities currently in use in the physics classroom. An exemplary supercomputer based laboratory is presented using the N-body problem applied to galactic structure. © 2008 American Association of Physics Teachers