Chaos

Produktbeschreibung

The million-copy bestseller by National Book Award nominee and Pulitzer Prize finalist James Gleick-the author of Time Travel: A History-that reveals the science behind chaos theory

A work of popular science in the tradition of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan, this 20th-anniversary edition of James Gleick's groundbreaking bestseller Chaos introduces a whole new readership to chaos theory, one of the most significant waves of scientific knowledge in our time. From Edward Lorenz's discovery of the Butterfly Effect, to Mitchell Feigenbaum's calculation of a universal constant, to Benoit Mandelbrot's concept of fractals, which created a new geometry of nature, Gleick's engaging narrative focuses on the key figures whose genius converged to chart an innovative direction for science. In Chaos, Gleick makes the story of chaos theory not only fascinating but also accessible to beginners, and opens our eyes to a surprising new view of the universe. 

Inhaltsverzeichnis

ChaosPrologue

The Butterfly Effect
Edward Lorenz and his toy weather. The computer misbehaves. Long-range
forecasting is doomed. Order masquerading as randomness. A world of
nonlinearity. "We completely missed the point."

Revolution
A revolution in seeing. Pendulum clocks, space balls, and playground swings. The
invention of the horseshoe. A mystery solved: Jupiter's Great Red Spot.

Life's Ups and Downs
Modeling wildlife populations. Nonlinear science, "the study of non-elephant
animals." Pitchfork bifurcations and a ride on the Spree. A movie of chaos and a
messianic appeal.

A Geometry of Nature
A discovery about cotton prices. A refugee from Bourbaki. Transmission errors
and jagged shores. New dimensions. The monsters of fractal geometry. Quakes in
the schizosphere. From clouds to blood vessels. The trash cans of science. "To
see the world in a grain of sand."

Strange Attractors
A problem for God. Transitions in the laboratory. Rotating cylinders and a
turning point. David Ruelle's idea for turbulence. Loops in phase space.
Mille-feuilles and sausage. An astronomer's mapping. "Fireworks or galaxies."

Universality
A new start at Los Alamos. The renormalization group. Decoding color. The rise
of numerical experimentation. Mitchell Feigenbaum's breakthrough. A universal
theory. The rejection letters. Meeting in Como. Clouds and paintings.

The Experimenter
Helium in a Small Box. "Insolid billowing of the solid." Flow and form in
nature. Albert Libchaber's delicate triumph. Experiment joins theory. From one
dimension to many.

Images of Chaos
The complex plane. Surprise in Newton's method. The Mandelbrot set: sprouts and
tendrils. Art and commerce meet science. Fractal basin boundaries. The chaos
game.

The Dynamical Systems Collective
Santa Cruz and the sixties. The analog computer. Was this science? "A long-range
vision." Measuring unpredictability. Information theory. From microscale to
macroscale. The dripping faucet. Audiovisual aids. An era ends.

Inner RhythmsA misunderstanding about models. The complex body. The dynamical
heart. Resetting the biological clock. Fatal arrhythmia. Chick embryos and
abnormal beats. Chaos as health.

Chaos and Beyond
New beliefs, new definitions. The Second Law, the snowflake puzzle, and loaded
dice. Opportunity and necessity.

Afterword

Notes on Sources and Further Reading

Acknowledgments

Index 

Autoreninfo

James Gleick