Lorenz, "Father of Chaos Theory" died at 90
Edward Lorenz, Professor at MIT died, he was 90. Lorenz, a meteorologist, was known for many of his contributions in Chaos theory, hence nicknamed "the father of Chaos theory".
Among some of his famous findings which have now become popular were:
1. Discovery of deterministic chaos: " 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." (physorg.com)
2. Lorenz attractor is a relatively simple attractor with complex behavior. This becomes the typical characteristic of chaos, complexity out of simplicity. (see image from "The Lorenz Attractor in 3D", the site has many other images of the Lorenz attractor)
3. Butterfly effect, the scientific concept that small effects lead to big changes, is illustrated by of the Lorenz attractor, see a Java animation here. The butterfly was originally a seagull, here is the story:
In a paper in 1963 given to the New York Academy of Sciences he remarks:
One meteorologist remarked that if the theory were correct, one flap of a seagull's wings would be enough to alter the course of the weather forever.4. Every day things are chaotic, chaos leads to creativity and life. The "edge of chaos" is where creativity "happens".
By the time of his talk at the December 1972 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C. the sea gull had evolved into the more poetic butterfly - the title of his talk was* Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil set off a Tornado in Texas?
Lorenz's discovery shocked the scientific world. Chaotic systems soon began to be recognised in all branches of science. As mathematicians started to unravel its mysteries, science reeled before the implications of an uncertain world intricately bound up with chance. The human heartbeat is chaotic, the stock market, the solar system and of course the weather. In fact the more we learn about chaos the more closely it seems to be bound up with nature. Fractal structures seem to be everywhere we look: in ferns, cauliflowers, the coral reef, kidneys… Rather than turn its back on chaos, nature appears to use it and science is beginning to do the same.
Recently mathematicians have shown that you can control chaos. For instance here in the Mathematics and Physics Departments at The University of Queensland theoretical and experimental work with lasers shows that the rich structure inherent in chaos can be harnessed to expand the capabilities of lasers. Perhaps in the future single systems, which are capable of multi-tasking, such as the brain, will be modelled by chaotic systems. We still have a lot to learn about how nature uses chaos, but perhaps unpredictable behaviour is not undesirable.
As Henry Adams said "Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit" (maths.uq.edu.au)
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