Computers and nuclear physics

Abstract

TRANSFORMING RAW DATA from a nuclear‐physics experiment into physical parameters and then to a publication follows a fairly universal course. For the past 20 years computers have performed more and more transformations. The first applications were primarily to the last stage, that is, transformation of reduced data into physically meaningful terms. As input and output devices connected to computers become more sophisticated, computers are put to work on more and more additional tasks. Today it is possible to have a computer perform most of the routine tasks in an experiment, perhaps even including the editing of a text for publication.