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Article: MIT professor Edward Lorenz, father of chaos theory, 'butterfly effect', dies at 90
- Article from:
- AP Worldstream
- Article date:
- April 16, 2008
- Author:
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Edward Lorenz, the father of chaos theory, died at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 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 ...