Dr. Fernando Cucchietti
A Quantum Leap in Workplace Productivity
Quantum Mechanic. At Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, Dr. Fernando Cucchietti is researching ways to simulate quantum problems without quantum computers.
At a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero, atoms don’t seem to know how to behave. In fact, they start defying the classical laws of physics—something that‘s both intrigued and vexed scientists for years.
“At that temperature, new and counterintuitive phenomena become possible,” says Dr. Fernando Cucchietti of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, a scientist whose specialty is cold atom physics and quantum computing. “You can have atoms in two places at the same time,” he explains. “Then you have so-called tunneling, which is like tennis balls going through a wall. In our normal life that doesn’t happen, but in quantum mechanics, it happens a lot.”
“So that was when I went to doing everything on the Mac. It made no sense to have two computers because I could have stability, speed, and friendly interface—everything on the same computer.”
Understanding these phenomena is a prerequisite for the development of a quantum computer—a new breed of computer far more powerful than anything that exists today. “The idea is to use quantum laws of nature to our advantage to improve computer efficiency,” Dr, Cucchietti says.
Efficiency Expert
Dr. Cucchietti’s work to improve computer efficiency isn’t just limited to the atomic level. He recently found a way to make it happen on a more macro scale—in his office at Los Alamos. Using a distributed network of Macintosh computers, he revamped his workgroup’s computer system to be far more powerful and efficient, yet kept within a modest budget.
Like many scientists, Dr. Cucchietti had relied for years on two separate desktop systems. A Linux box gave him the power and stability to handle the processor-intensive calculations his work demands. And a PC running Windows offered him a somewhat simpler platform than Linux for creating reports and presentations.
When he arrived at Los Alamos in 2003, Dr. Cucchietti started using a Power Mac G5 for his productivity applications including Mail, iWork, Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and more—but he still chose to use two computers. “I kept my Linux machine for science,” he says. “But after some time, I realized I had UNIX on my Mac. So I started using it for simulations. It was stable and didn’t crash, and so I knew my simulations were going to be OK.”
He also noticed another big benefit—the Mac ran his simulations faster than the Linux computer. “So that was when I went to doing everything on the Mac,” he says. “It made no sense to have two computers because I could have stability, speed, and friendly interface—everything on the same computer.”
1 2 Next Page >
“Getting Work Known is as Important as Doing it.”
“Presentation is one of the most important parts of my job, since getting my work known is just as important as doing it,” says Dr. Cucchietti, who credits his presentation skills in giving him an advantage when applying for grants—and even in helping him get his job.
Dr. Cucchietti uses a combination of tools to build graphics for his presentations, ultimately importing and organizing his files in Keynote, part of Apple’s iWork ’08 suite of productivity applications. Keynote imports a variety of formats, including PowerPoint slides, and can export presentations in PowerPoint format if desired.
According to Dr. Cucchietti, Keynote offers scientists some important advantages over other applications “If you use PowerPoint, one of the problems is that you have to use an equation editor, which is a pain,” he explains. “If you need to load your presentation on a PC, the equations can look messed up. Instead, with Keynote, I can use LaTeX—which is an open-source text editor for math and science—to write my mathematical equations and output the file as a PDF document. Then I drag and drop the PDF into Keynote. It’s simple and efficient, and I don’t have to worry because I know it will look right no matter what.”
“I like how PDFs are handled in the Mac OS,” he adds. “I can copy and paste from a PDF in Apple Preview, or drag and drop PDFs into other applications. I don’t need Adobe Acrobat or anything like that.