This book provides a vivid account of the early history of molecular simulation a new frontier
for our understanding of matter that was opened when the demands of theoretical physicists were
met by the availability of the modern computers. Since their inception electronic computers
have enormously increased their performance thus making possible the unprecedented
technological revolution that characterizes our present times. This obvious technological
advancement has brought with it a silent scientific revolution in the practice of theoretical
physics. In particular in the physics of matter it has opened up a direct route from the
microscopic physical laws to observable phenomena. One can now study the time evolution of
systems composed of millions of molecules and simulate the behaviour of macroscopic materials
and actually predict their properties. Molecular simulation has provided a new theoretical and
conceptual tool that physicists could only dream of when the foundations of statistical
mechanics were laid. Molecular simulation has undergone impressive development both in the
size of the scientific community involved and in the range and scope of its applications. It
has become the ubiquitous workhorse for investigating the nature of complex condensed matter
systems in physics chemistry materials and the life sciences. Yet these developments remain
largely unknown outside the inner circles of practitioners and they have so far never been
described for a wider public. The main objective of this book is therefore to offer a
reasonably comprehensive reconstruction of the early history of molecular simulation addressed
to an audience of both scientists and interested non-scientists describing the scientific and
personal trajectories of the main protagonists and discussing the deep conceptual innovations
that their work produced.
