Edward Norton Lorenz
Edward Norton Lorenz (May 23, 1917 – April 16, 2008) was an American mathematician and meteorologist who established the theoretical basis of weather and climate predictability, as well as the basis for computer-aided atmospheric physics and meteorology. He is best known as the founder of modern chaos theory, a branch of mathematics focusing on the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions.
Edward Norton Lorenz | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 23, 1917 West Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | April 16, 2008 (aged 90) Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Dartmouth College (BA) Harvard University (MA) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MS, ScD) |
| Known for | Chaos theory Butterfly effect Lorenz attractor Lorenz energy cycle Lorenz 96 model |
| Awards | Symons Gold Medal (1973) Crafoord Prize (1983) Kyoto Prize (1991) Roger Revelle Medal (1992) Lomonosov Gold Medal (2004) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics and Meteorology |
| Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Thesis | A Method of Applying the Hydrodynamic and Thermodynamic Equations to Atmospheric Models (1948) |
| Doctoral advisor | James Murdoch Austin |
| Doctoral students | Kevin E. Trenberth William D. Sellers |
His discovery of deterministic chaos "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," according to the committee that awarded him the 1991 Kyoto Prize for basic sciences in the field of earth and planetary sciences.