Photos: Germany's Leibniz supercomputer

The Leibniz supercomputer is part of a network of computers and research and education facilities that run across Bavaria and throughout southern Germany.

Professor Hegering is chairman of the board of Leibniz University, which he says was "one of the first elite campuses in Germany" — campuses that were identified as academic areas of particular excellence. It is a state university and, like the supercomputer, owes nothing to private enterprise or investment. While local companies, such as BMW, would like to be involved with enterprises such as the supercomputer, their involvement is not encouraged.

The research and academic infrastructure around Leibniz is vast, including 65,000 computers linked in what they call a high performance computer cluster (HPCC).