Edward Lorenz

[Renfield]

So I just learned that Edward Lorenz has died: essentially the originator of the Chaos Theory, who among other things coined the term "Butterfly effect".

That man's work - particularly regarding what are known as "strange attractors" - is almost solely responsible for my studying Mathematics at a university level, and very possibly for giving me the courage to go on to do philosophy, psychology and science instead of psychiatry, as I had once intended.

Thus, I'm mentioning here his death, so that perhaps he might inspire at least one more curious person to think on Chaos.

Rest in peace, Edward Lorenz.


P.S.: Though to be fair, I am obliged to also mention the names of Mandelbrot, and especially Feigenbaum, both of whom are surprisingly (but happily) still alive, with regard to non-linear dynamics in general. However, it's Lorenz who first came up with the overlying "Chaos Theory", and it's certainly he who came up with the Lorenz (strange) attractor.

Plus, the story of his experiments on that mini-scale meteorological model of a planet in MIT almost got me into Physics; and it's still a lovely story to tell. Does anyone physics/math-inclined have something similar to remember?

[Joe_Campbell]

My first encounter with Chaos Theory was in APCalculus, and it mainly focused on Mandlebrot. Clearly, my teacher saw my interest in the subject; when I received the calculus award, I was given this book:

which was really fascinating. It's been far too long since I read it to pull out anything on the spot, but I think Amazon has an online preview of it.

FWIW, this same teacher was the reason my uncle went from hating math to wanting to be a math teacher. It's great to have someone that inspiring in one's life!

[Renfield]

JCambell, Gleick's "Chaos" is indeed a book I cherish; in fact, it was also my own first exposure to the topic.