The field concerned with performing many computations simultaneously by dividing a large problem into smaller ones that can be solved at the same time. Michael Flynn's 1966 taxonomy classifying architectures by instruction and data stream (SISD, SIMD, MISD, MIMD) is the field's most commonly cited defining framework, though experimental parallel hardware such as the Gamma 60 fork-join machine (1957) predates it. The source is explicit that parallel computing, distributed computing and concurrent computing overlap substantially with no single clean line between them, which this atlas records honestly rather than inventing a sharper distinction than the field itself draws; distributed computing is kept as the atlas's separate existing field for the networked, independently-owned-machine case. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Disputed
Origin YearMichael Flynn's 1966 taxonomy is the field's most commonly cited defining moment, but the Gamma 60, the first architecture specifically designed for parallelism, was already built in 1957; no single year cleanly founds the field. Core ConcernDividing a computation across multiple processing units working at the same time, and managing the coordination, synchronization and communication that division requires. 1 Connections
Associated With
Source Wikipedia: Parallel computing
Source Wikipedia: Computational science
Source Wikipedia: Cray-1
Source Wikipedia: Parallel computing
DNA Computing, Fields Field-to-field association; both are standard neighbouring areas of computing
GPU computing (GPGPU) is itself a form of parallel processing between GPUs and CPUs.
Source GPU Computing (Wikipedia)
Source Grid Computing (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Parallel computing
Includes
Source Wikipedia: Bill Gropp
Source Boris Babayan (Wikipedia)
Source Chapel (programming language)
Source Wikipedia: Charles E. Leiserson
Source Ci Yungui (Wikipedia)
Source IEEE Computer Society History Committee: Computer Pioneers: Daniel L. Slotnick
Source Wikipedia: Danny Hillis
Source Wikipedia: David Gelernter
Source Franck Cappello - Wikipedia
Source Gerald Estrin (Wikipedia)
Source Guy Blelloch, Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Jack Dongarra
Source James C. Browne, Wikipedia
Source Jin Yilian (Wikipedia)
Source Kunle Olukotun (Wikipedia)
Source Lamport's bakery algorithm (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Linda (coordination language)
Source Mark D. Hill (Wikipedia)
Source Olaf Storaasli (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Per Brinch Hansen
Source Peterson's algorithm (Wikipedia)
Source Rosemary Candlin (Wikipedia)
Source Sarita Adve, Wikipedia
Source Shahid Hussain Bokhari, Wikipedia
Source Srinivas Aluru, Wikipedia
Source Tadashi Watanabe (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Thomas Sterling
Source Trevor Mudge (Wikipedia)
Source Vijay P. Bhatkar, Wikipedia
Source Vladimir Pentkovski (Wikipedia)
Source Wolfgang Händler (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Parallel computing
Wikimedia FoundationDistributed computing
The terms "concurrent computing", "parallel computing", and "distributed computing" have a lot of overlap, and no clear distinction exists between them.
History section
In 1957, Compagnie des Machines Bull announced the first computer architecture specifically designed for parallelism, the Gamma 60.
Lead section
Parallel computing is a type of computation in which many calculations or processes are carried out simultaneously.
Associated With: Multics, History
It was during this debate that Amdahl's law was coined to define the limit of speed-up due to parallelism. In 1969, Honeywell introduced its first Multics system, a symmetric multiprocessor system capable of running up to eight processors in parallel.
Associated With: CDC 6600, History
When it was finally ready to run its first real application in 1976, it was outperformed by existing commercial supercomputers such as the Cray-1.
View the Source Wikipedia: Cray-1
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Cray-1, Introduction sectionQuote, Associated With: Cray-1, Introduction section
The Cray-1 was the first supercomputer to successfully implement the vector processor design.
Wikipedia: Computational science
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Computational Science, Methods and algorithmsQuote, Associated With: Computational Science, Methods and algorithms
In addition, parallel computing is heavily used in scientific computing to find solutions of large problems in a reasonable amount of time.
GPU Computing (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: GPU Computing, Lead sectionQuote, Associated With: GPU Computing, Lead section
Essentially, a GPGPU pipeline is a kind of parallel processing between one or more GPUs and CPUs, with special accelerated instructions for processing image or other graphic forms of data.
Grid Computing (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Grid Computing, Lead section, second paragraphQuote, Associated With: Grid Computing, Lead section, second paragraph
distributed or grid computing can be seen as a special type of parallel computing that relies on complete computers (with onboard CPUs, storage, power supplies, network interfaces, etc.) connected to a computer network (private or public) by a conventional network interface, such as Ethernet.
Olaf Storaasli (Wikipedia)
Includes: Olaf Storaasli, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Olaf Storaasli, Lead section
one of NASA's first parallel computers
Mark D. Hill (Wikipedia)
Includes: Mark D. Hill, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Mark D. Hill, Lead section
Hill specializes in computer architecture, parallel computing
Trevor Mudge (Wikipedia)
Includes: Trevor Mudge, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Trevor Mudge, Lead section
parallel processing
IEEE Computer Society History Committee: Computer Pioneers: Daniel L. Slotnick
IEEE Computer Society History CommitteeIncludes: Daniel Slotnick, Biography headerQuote, Includes: Daniel Slotnick, Biography header
Significant developer of the concept of the processor array
Peterson's algorithm (Wikipedia)
Includes: Peterson's algorithm, LeadQuote, Includes: Peterson's algorithm, Lead
Peterson's algorithm (or Peterson's solution) is a concurrent programming algorithm for mutual exclusion
Wolfgang Händler (Wikipedia)
Includes: Wolfgang Handler, LeadQuote, Includes: Wolfgang Handler, Lead
emberg (Institut für Mathematische Maschinen und Datenverarbeitung) known for his work on automata theory, parallel computing, artificial intelligence, man-machine interfaces and computer graphics.
Jin Yilian (Wikipedia)
Includes: Jin Yilian, LeadQuote, Includes: Jin Yilian, Lead
Jin Yilian (Chinese: 金怡濂; pinyin: Jīn Yílián; born September 1929) is a Chinese computer scientist and a pioneer of supercomputing in the country.
Boris Babayan (Wikipedia)
Includes: Boris Babayan, LeadQuote, Includes: Boris Babayan, Lead
Boris Artashesovich Babayan (Russian: Борис Арташеcович Бабаян; Armenian: Բորիս Արտաշեսի Բաբայան; born Baku, 20 December 1933) is a Soviet and Russian computer scientist of Armenian descent, notable as the pioneering creator of supercomputers in the former Soviet Union and Russia.
Lamport's bakery algorithm (Wikipedia)
Includes: Lamport's bakery algorithm, Lead, first paragraphQuote, Includes: Lamport's bakery algorithm, Lead, first paragraph
intended to improve the safety in the usage of shared resources among multiple threads by means of mutual exclusion
Wikipedia: David Gelernter
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: David Gelernter, Lead paragraphView the Source Wikipedia: Danny Hillis
Wikipedia: Charles E. Leiserson
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Charles E. Leiserson, Lead paragraphView the Source Wikipedia: Per Brinch Hansen
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Per Brinch Hansen, Lead paragraphView the Source Sarita Adve, Wikipedia
Vijay P. Bhatkar, Wikipedia
Guy Blelloch, Wikipedia
Shahid Hussain Bokhari, Wikipedia
Chapel (programming language)
Wikipedia: Linda (coordination language)
Wikipedia: Jack Dongarra
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Jack Dongarra, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source Wikipedia: Thomas Sterling
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Thomas Sterling, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source Arvind, Wikipedia
Includes: Arvind, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source Kunle Olukotun (Wikipedia)
Includes: Kunle Olukotun, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source Srinivas Aluru, Wikipedia
Includes: Srinivas Aluru, LeadQuote, Includes: Srinivas Aluru, Lead
His main areas of research are high performance computing, data science, bioinformatics and systems biology, combinatorial methods in scientific computing, and string algorithms.
James C. Browne, Wikipedia
Includes: James C. Browne, Infobox: known_forQuote, Includes: James C. Browne, Infobox: known_for
Parallel computing Performance measurement Operating systems High-level programming language, High-level languages
Franck Cappello - Wikipedia
Includes: Franck Cappello, LeadQuote, Includes: Franck Cappello, Lead
He was awarded the IEEE Computer Society Charles Babbage Award in 2024, and named as an ACM Fellow in 2025, "for contributions to parallel/distributed computing, resilience, and scientific data reduction" and IEEE Fellow, class of 2017 "for contributions to high-performance computing, fault tolerance, and grid-based computing".
Wikipedia: Bill Gropp
Includes: Bill Gropp, LeadQuote, Includes: Bill Gropp, Lead
He is also the founding Director of the Parallel Computing Institute.
Rosemary Candlin (Wikipedia)
Includes: Rosemary Candlin, LeadQuote, Includes: Rosemary Candlin, Lead
She worked there from 1968 to 1995, helped design the curriculum in its early years, and developed a specialist interest in parallel programming.
Gerald Estrin (Wikipedia)
Includes: Gerald Estrin, LeadQuote, Includes: Gerald Estrin, Lead
He is known for his work on the organization of computer systems, on parallel processing and SARA (system architects apprentice).
Vladimir Pentkovski (Wikipedia)
Includes: Vladimir Pentkovski, LeadQuote, Includes: Vladimir Pentkovski, Lead
He was one of the leading architects of the Soviet Elbrus supercomputers and the high-level programming language El-76.
Tadashi Watanabe (Wikipedia)
Includes: Tadashi Watanabe, LeadQuote, Includes: Tadashi Watanabe, Lead
Watanabe is the project manager of the RIKEN Next-Generation Supercomputer R&D Center.
Ci Yungui (Wikipedia)
Includes: Ci Yungui, LeadQuote, Includes: Ci Yungui, Lead
Ci Yungui (simplified Chinese: 慈云桂; traditional Chinese: 慈雲桂; pinyin: Cíyún guì, 1917-1990), male, born in Tongcheng, Anhui Province, was a Chinese computer scientist widely honored as "the father of China's supercomputers".
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