Monte Carlo method

A 2014 paper recounts how Los Alamos scientists turned to the ENIAC in 1947 and 1948 to run early Monte Carlo simulations of nuclear processes, helping establish a computational method now central to physics and engineering. The paper is drawing fresh attention among readers interested in the origins of scientific computing.

A newly circulated paper recounts how Los Alamos scientists turned to the Eniac in 1947–1948 to run some of the earliest Monte Carlo simulations, using the pioneering computer to model nuclear processes through random sampling. The episode is widely seen as a founding moment of computational science, showing how wartime computing hardware was repurposed for peacetime physics research and helped establish a technique now used across finance, engineering and beyond.