Grid computing involves sharing computer resources from multiple institutions to work towards a common goal. It originated in the 1990s as a way to link distributed computer resources. Key figures like Ian Foster, Carl Kesselman, and Steve are considered the "fathers of the grid." Grid computing is used by application developers, end users, and system administrators to solve large problems that require massive computational power, such as analyzing petabytes of climate data or screening thousands of chemical compounds per hour. Examples of highly visible grids include the NASA Information Power Grid and the Distributed Terascale Facility Project.