Peter Braam

Peter Braam is a multidisciplinary scientist and technologist, working across systems software, scientific computing, mathematics, and theoretical computer science.

He began his career as a pure mathematician at Utrecht and Oxford, where he completed his PhD under Sir Michael Atiyah and later joined the faculty, working in several areas of mathematics. In the early 1990s he moved toward computer science, became faculty at Carnegie Mellon University, and began founding startup companies focused on data storage and scientific computing. In 1999 he introduced the Lustre parallel file system; with support from the U.S. Department of Energy, Lustre became the de facto standard for data storage in large-scale scientific computing and connected his work to research and industry worldwide.

From around 2012 onward, he returned more fully to academic work, including participation in the design of the SKA radio telescope. During this period he worked with the programming languages community and held visiting positions in physics, mathematics, and computer science at Cambridge, Oxford, and Waseda University.

His work is characterised by an ability to discern structure in complex problems and by an emphasis on rigorous reasoning and process. He enjoys working across domains and keeping unresolved questions in mind over long periods of time. He is available, selectively, as a thinking partner.