MIT Prof Edward Lorenz, Father Of Chaos Theory, Dies At 90

[DeSwiss]

Source: Associated Press

MIT Prof Edward Lorenz, Father Of Chaos Theory, Dies At 90

Associated Press
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
40 minutes ago


MIT Prof Edward Lorenz

WASHINGTON - Edward Lorenz, the father of chaos theory, died at his home in Cambridge, Mass., Wednesday. He was 90. He was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when he came up with the scientific concept that small effects lead to big changes, something that became known as the "butterfly effect." He explained how something as minuscule as a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil changes the constantly moving atmosphere in ways that could later trigger tornadoes in Texas.

His discovery of "deterministic chaos" brought about "one of the most dramatic changes in mankind's view of nature since Sir Isaac Newton," said the committee that awarded Lorenz the 1991 Kyoto Prize for basic sciences. It was one of many scientific awards that Lorenz won.

Lorenz, a meteorologist, came up with the chaos theory concept in the 1960s through his own meticulous work habits, said Kevin Trenberth, a student of Lorenz's. Trenberth is now climate analysis chief at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

He inadvertently ran what seemed like the same calculations through a creaky computer twice and came up with vastly different answers. When he tried to figure out what happened, he noticed a slight decimal point change — less than 0.0001 — wound up leading to significant error. That error became a seminal scientific paper, presented in 1972, about the butterfly effect.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080416/ap_on_sc/obit_lorenz

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- Mothers have known about chaos theory from the very beginning. And its become an invaluable component of our everyday life ever since. Without the yelling and the screaming: "When are you going to clean up this flithy room!?!?!?!" ...we'd never see our kids venture outside our doors and start a life of their own.

So thank you professor for writing chaos theory all down for us. But more importantly, thanks Mom.....
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DeSwiss


http://atheisttoolbox.com/">The Atheist Toolbox

[melody]

1. Yesterday Wheeler, today Lorenz

They live to be damned old men, these uber-science geeks.

[bemildred]

8. They come in threes ... nt

[Delphinus]

17. Yeah,

makes me wonder who of this genre will be next.

Great minds leaving us lately.

[scarletwoman]

2. Farewell to another great mind.

Obviously, as the great thinkers of the 20th century age, they will eventually die. The loss of one of these great thinkers is always a sad and painful event.

But what makes it much much worse, imho, is the seeming dearth of great thinkers carrying on behind them.

R.I.P., Edward Lorenz, and many thanks for your contribution to human knowledge and understanding.

sw

[tigereye]

10. that generation of scientists were exposed to so many factors

that shaped their complex, atypical ways of thinking - less bureaucratic, perhaps. Let's hope that this generation will find a similar path, since the scientists and thinkers whom they taught will carry on to subsequent generations of scholars.


I was reading about Wheeler as well, and it's fascinating how these ideas/concepts that we think of as so "modern" were forged in the 40s and 50s.

[Barrett808]

3. The Lorenz Attractor:

[pnorman]

12. I have the Lorenz Generator in my PDA (Palm OS), although it's b&w rather than color.

Here it is: http://www.freeware-palm.com/download-lorenz-v1-0.html

Now that you remind me, I'll put it in my cell-phone too (also Palm OS).

pnorman

[Hugin]

4. Well, I'm very sorry to learn of this...

;(

The butterflies will miss you.

[Hugin]

5. ...

And... Off to the Greatest page.

;(

Darned butterflies anyhow, always flapping around causing all kinds of hurricanes, tsunamis and assorted mayhem.

[girl gone mad]

6. Thanks for the Lorenz equtation..

I've had some fun Friday nights with that one. :)

[0rganism]

7. Another of the great ones has left us

I based my undergrad senior design project on the Lorenz system. Lorenz gave humanity something beautiful to think about, and I'll always remember what I learned of his contribution fondly.

[AnneD]

9. And thanks to....

Jurassic Park-he is now is part of the pop culture too. Even folks who know nothing about math know the chaos theory.

[BlooInBloo]

11. With computers, he was able to take Poincare's work to a whole new level...

... (on the qualitative theory of diffeqs). Pity next to nobody has any idea of the magnitude of the ideas. RIP.

[burrowowl]

13. RIP

Have had lots of wonderment with Chaos Theory.
Have to look up Rene Thom to see where he is.

[aquart]

14. He did good.

[Fredda Weinberg]

15. I call it Free Will. His equations don't determine - they rule.

I can't wait to start my PhD

[lostnfound]

16. Rest on the edges of order and chaos

Some beautiful dimensions he interpreted for us, on the edge of what exists and what does not exist.
In honor of the man who opened the door.




or the humble broccoli..daisy..snowflake