Computational Sciences have had a major impact in the way we gather and produce knowledge in all the realms of the empirical sciences, from astrophysics to particle physics, and from macro-scale engineering projects to micro-analysis of manufacturing processes. It has become the third pillar of the empirical sciences (alongside the more traditional experiments and analysis).  Professor of Computational Sciences Rainald Lohner explores the reasons for these developments, and provides an outlook for the future, along with a consideration of the wider philosophical implications this new form of data acquisition is having on the way we perceive the world. From the Series:The Vision Series