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Edward Lorenz, Father of Chaos Theory, Dies at 90

Posted by timothy on from the what-are-the-odds-his-middle-name-was-norton dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Professor Edward N. Lorenz, who discovered in 1961 that subtle changes in the initial conditions of a weather simulation program could cause very large differences in its results, died of cancer Wednesday at the age of 90. The contributions of the father of chaos theory, who coined the term 'the butterfly effect' and also discovered the Lorenz Attractor, are best summarized by the wording of the Kyoto Prize in 1991 which noted that his discovery of chaos theory 'profoundly influenced a wide range of basic sciences and brought about one of the most dramatic changes in mankind's view of nature since Sir Isaac Newton.'"

8 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. Died of cancer... but why? by DamienRBlack · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why aren't they reporting that his cancer was caused by a zebra sneezing in the UK last fall under a fig tree. It seems quite relevant.

    1. Re:Died of cancer... but why? by Digestromath · · Score: 3, Funny
      I think the cancer angle is all wrong for a headline.

      The sensationalist news should report "Butterfly goes on rampage, slays notable mathematician. Police seek public's help in finding strange attractor."

      Or is it really just too soon for jokes? How do we as a community honour someone who has made such great contributions. Contributions no doubt to be misremembered by pop culture (thanks alot Hollywood).

      Perhaps he would be fondly remembered though an internet meme.

    2. Re:Died of cancer... but why? by JustOK · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm thinking that there probably shouldn't be a particular pattern to when the jokes are made.

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
    3. Re:Died of cancer... but why? by smallfries · · Score: 4, Funny

      Besides, decades of research have improved those models to the extent that we can accurately predict the weather anywhere up to 20mins in the future.

      --
      Slashdot: where don knuth is an idiot because he cant grasp the awesome power of php
    4. Re:Died of cancer... but why? by smittyoneeach · · Score: 3, Funny

      You omit the fact that we've also made some strides in predicting what the past should have been.

      --
      Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
    5. Re:Died of cancer... but why? by JustOK · · Score: 2, Funny

      I've been using Vista. That's been pretty chaotic.

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
    6. Re:Died of cancer... but why? by CastrTroy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Real programmers use butterflies.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  2. Re:He got his butterflies wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    whoosh... that's the sound of a butterfly flying completely over your head...