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ABSTRACT Modern computers operate at enormous speeds—capable of executing in excess of 1013 instructions per second—but their sequential approach to processing, by which logical operations

are performed one after another, has remained unchanged since the 1950s. In contrast, although individual neurons of the human brain fire at around just 103 times per second, the

simultaneous collective action of millions of neurons enables them to complete certain tasks more efficiently than even the fastest supercomputer. Here we demonstrate an assembly of

molecular switches that simultaneously interact to perform a variety of computational tasks including conventional digital logic, calculating Voronoi diagrams, and simulating natural

phenomena such as heat diffusion and cancer growth. As well as representing a conceptual shift from serial-processing with static architectures, our parallel, dynamically reconfigurable

approach could provide a means to solve otherwise intractable computational problems. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Authors acknowledge H. Hossainkhani, Y. Wakayama, J. Rampe, M. McClain, W. Cantrel and J. Liebescheutz for discussion. The work is partially funded by the Ministry of

Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan during 2005–2008 and Grants in Aid for Young Scientists (A) for 2009–2011, Grant number 21681015. R.P. acknowledges National

Science Foundation (NSF) Award number ECCS-0643420. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Advanced Nano Characterization Center, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1

Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0047, Japan Anirban Bandyopadhyay, Satyajit Sahu & Daisuke Fujita * Department of Physics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, 49931, USA

Ranjit Pati * National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, 588-2 Iwaoka, Nishi-ku, Kobe 651-2492, Japan Ferdinand Peper Authors * Anirban Bandyopadhyay View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Ranjit Pati View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Satyajit Sahu

View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Ferdinand Peper View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

Daisuke Fujita View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS A.B. designed the research; A.B. did the experiment; A.B. developed the CA

simulator; R.P., A.B. and S.S. did the theoretical studies; A.B., R.P., S.S. and F.P. analysed the data; and A.B., R.P., F.P. and S.S. wrote the paper together; D.F. reviewed the work.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Anirban Bandyopadhyay. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

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PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Bandyopadhyay, A., Pati, R., Sahu, S. _et al._ Massively parallel computing on an organic molecular layer. _Nature

Phys_ 6, 369–375 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1636 Download citation * Received: 28 April 2009 * Accepted: 05 March 2010 * Published: 25 April 2010 * Issue Date: May 2010 * DOI:

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