IBM received US National Medal of Technology from President Barack Obama

This is IBM's 9th National Medal of Technology.

IBM committed a great deal of time, money and talent to Blue Gene, and that commitment has produced the world's fastest, most energy efficient computer -- one that is helping to solve humanity's most stubborn challenges in science, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, defense, finance, and other crucial disciplines.

In fact, IBM believes that the platform has done nothing less than assist the United States in maintaining its leadership in the prestigious and strategic supercomputing arena.

Blue Gene's low-power processors, powerful networking architecture, unique software and system-on-a-chip design have produced fundamentally new science with unparalleled efficiency, unsurpassed speed, dramatic scalability, and exceptional reliability.

These attributes have enabled scientists and researchers to attack a wide range of complex problems - not just in the life sciences but also in important scientific and commercial fields including materials sciences, molecular dynamics, fluid dynamics, climate modeling, and financial risk analysis.

Blue Gene systems have mapped the human genome, investigated medical therapies, safeguarded nuclear arsenals, simulated radioactive decay, simulated brain power, helped fly airplanes, pinpointed tumors, imagined financial scenarios, predicted weather and climate trends, and identified fossil fuels - all virtually.