Edward Norton Lorenz
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| Edward Norton Lorenz | |
 Edward Norton Lorenz
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| Born | May 23, 1917 West Hartford, Connecticut, United States |
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| Died | April 16, 2008 (aged 90) Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States |
| Residence | United States |
| Fields | Mathematics and Meteorology |
| Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Alma mater | Dartmouth College Harvard University Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Doctoral advisor | James Murdoch Austin |
| Doctoral students | Kevin E. Trenberth |
| Known for | Chaos theory Lorenz attractor Butterfly effect |
| Notable awards | Kyoto Prize (1991) |
Edward Norton Lorenz (May 23, 1917[1] – April 16, 2008[2]) was an American mathematician and meteorologist, and a pioneer of chaos theory. He discovered the strange attractor notion and coined the term butterfly effect.
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[edit] Early career
Lorenz was born in West Hartford, Connecticut.[1] He studied mathematics at both Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During World War II, he served as a weather forecaster for the United States Army Air Corps. After his return from the war, he decided to study meteorology. Lorenz earned two degrees in the area from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he later was a professor for many years.
[edit] Research
Lorenz built a mathematical model of the way air moves around in the atmosphere. As Lorenz studied weather patterns he began to realize that they did not always change as predicted. Minute variations in the initial values of variables in his twelve variable computer weather model (c. 1960) would result in grossly divergent weather patterns. This sensitive dependence on initial conditions came to be known as the butterfly effect.[3]
Lorenz went on to explore the underlying mathematics and published his conclusions in a seminal work titled Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow, in which he described a relatively simple system of equations that resulted in a very complicated dynamical object now known as the Lorenz attractor.
He was awarded the Kyoto Prize in 1991 and cited for "profoundly [influencing] 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."[4]
[edit] Later life
Lorenz continued to be active in his work well into his seventies, winning the Kyoto Prize for basic sciences, in the field of earth and planetary sciences, in 1991.[5] In his later years, he lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was an avid outdoorsman, who enjoyed hiking, climbing, and cross-country skiing. He kept up with these pursuits until very late in his life, and managed to continue most of his regular activities until only a few weeks before his death. According to his daughter, Cheryl Lorenz, Lorenz had "finished a paper a week ago with a colleague."[6] On April 16, 2008, Lorenz died at his home in Cambridge at the age of 90, having suffered from cancer. [7]
[edit] Awards
Professor Emeritus at MIT since 1981, Lorenz has received many awards for his work, including:
- 1969 Carl Gustaf Rossby Research Medal, American Meteorological Society.
- 1973 Symons Memorial Gold Medal, Royal Meteorological Society.
- 1975 Fellow, National Academy of Sciences (U.S.A.).
- 1981 Member, Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
- 1983 Crafoord Prize, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
- 1984 Honorary Member, Royal Meteorological Society.
- 1991 Kyoto Prize for ‘… his boldest scientific achievement in discovering "deterministic chaos" .’.
- 2004 Buys Ballot medal.
[edit] Selected publications
- 1955 Available potential energy and the maintenance of the general circulation. Tellus. Vol.7
- 1963 Deterministic nonperiodic flow. Journal of Atmospheric Sciences. Vol.20 : 130—141 link [8].
- 1967 The nature and theory of the general circulation of atmosphere. World Meteorological Organization. No.218
- 1969 Three approaches to atmospheric predictability. American Meteorological Society. Vol.50
- 1976 Nondeterministic theories of climate change. Quaternary Research. Vol.6
- 1990 Can chaos and intransitivity lead to interannual variability? Tellus. Vol.42A
- 2005 Designing Chaotic Models. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences: Vol. 62, No. 5, pp. 1574–1587.
[edit] References
- ^ a b MIT Tech Talk, 1991-06-26, Lorenz Receives 1991 Kyoto Prize
- ^ Edward Lorenz, father of chaos theory and butterfly effect, dies at 90 - MIT News Office
- ^ Term first recorded from Lorenz's Address at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in Washington, December 29, 1979.
- ^ "Edward N. Lorenz, a Meteorlogist and Father of Chaos Theory, Dies at 90", NY Times (2008-04-16).
- ^ Edward Lorenz, father of chaos theory, dead at 90 | U.S. | Reuters
- ^ Edward N. Lorenz, a Meteorologist and a Father of Chaos Theory, Dies at 90 - New York Times
- ^ Edward Lorenz, father of chaos theory, dies at age 90 - CNN.com
- ^ According to the Web of Science online academic database, this paper has received at least 4000 unique citations by subsequent authors, making it one of the most-cited papers of all time.
[edit] External links
- Edward N. Lorenz at MIT's website
- Video clip of Edward N. Lorenz speaking at the International Conference on Complex Systems, hosted by the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI)
- Obituary, Daily Telegraph, 18 April 2008.
- Le battement d'ailes du papillon (a film by Laurent Firode, with Audrey Tautou, released in 2000)
