foundationof the first supercomputer centre hlrz 1979 zam proposal of hpc in juelich 1983 supercomputing cray x mp 24 1985 physics initiative for german commission installed by bmbf 1986 recommendation to found with gmd dependance test lab 416 1987 cooperation contract signed partners desy hamburg birlinghoven research central institute applied mathematics three competence groups many particle systems res qcd visualization later bioinformatics foundation john von neumann computing nic 1998 left march now tensely negotiating fusion conditions fraunhofer society and restructured july as main within parallel zeuthen ape100 quadrics support two zpr t3e 600 544 pe 64 gb 307 gflops 1200 262 614 t90 10 2 cpu 8 18 j90 16