1. Numerical simulation of physical phenomena

The first simulations were carried out in ballistics as early as the 16th century, but digital simulation is a new and powerful tool for understanding and predicting observed physical phenomena, and using this knowledge to design ever more audacious buildings (tunnels, viaducts, railroads, etc.), ever safer and faster transport vehicles (planes, rockets, cars, etc.), and more effective prostheses (legs, arms, hands, hearts, etc.).

Historically, numerical methods were developed from the Second World War onwards, with the advent of what were then called "big mathematical machines". It was in Mechanics (ballistics, celestial mechanics, solid mechanics, fluid mechanics) that scientific simulation began. The first machines were built in the United States for the U.S. Navy. The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator, Analyser and Computer), delivered in 1945-1946, was...