• Corpus ID: 119113195

The computer BESK and an early attempt to simulate galactic dynamics

@article{Lindblad2015TheCB,
  title={The computer BESK and an early attempt to simulate galactic dynamics},
  author={Per Olof Lindblad},
  journal={arXiv: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics},
  year={2015}
}

• P. Lindblad
• Published 5 March 2015
• Physics
• arXiv: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

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 .