STEAM/STEM
Housed in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, the Tornado Microburst Simulator has capabilities for generating a translating a microburst-like jet and a tornado-like vortex for model testing. The top speed of the vortex is 35 mph and the maximum translation speed is 2 fps. The simulator has flow visualization, pressure measurement and flow diagnostics capabilities.
Find it: 1200 Howe Hall, 537 Bissell RD
The VRAC’s C6 is the world’s highest resolution, fully immersive virtual environment. Residing in the center atrium of Howe Hall, the facility’s exterior is shaped like a silver cyclone. Inside the C6 is a room in which all four walls, the floor and the ceiling, are projection screens, illuminated from outside by high-resolution, interactive computer-generated stereoscopic images that provide an experience of total immersion in a virtual environment.
Find it: Howe Hall Atrium, 537 Bissell Rd
The world's first electronic digital computer was built on the Iowa State campus from 1939 through 1942 by John V. Atanasoff, a professor of physics and mathematics, and Clifford Berry, an engineering graduate student. Principles used in the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) are the basis for modern computing. Atanasoff is now considered the “father of the computer.” The original ABC was dismantled during the late 1940s, but a replica was built and demonstrated in 1997. The replica was moved to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, in April 2010. A display about the development and history of the ABC, including replicas of several vacuum tubes and one of the machine’s rotating drums, remains in the Durham Center at Iowa State.
Find it: Durham Center, 613 Morrill Rd
