Edward Lorenz

Edward Lorenz the father of chaos theory who showed how small actions could lead to major changes in what became known as the "butterfly effect" diedofcancer.butterfly effect has become a metaphor for the existence of seemingly insignificant moments that alter history and shape destinies. Typically unrecognized at first, they create threads of cause and effect that appear obvious in retrospect, changing the course of a human life or rippling through the global economy.Lorenz, a meteorologist, figured out in the 1960s that small differences in a dynamic system such as the atmosphere could set off enormous changes.Born in 1917 in West Hartford Connecticut, Lorenz earned degrees in mathematics from Dartmouth College in 1938, from Harvard University in 1940, and degrees in meteorology from MIT in 1943 and 1948.. As a low-profile assistant professor in MIT's department of meteorology in 1961, Lorenz created an early computer program to simulate weather. While serving as a weather forecaster for the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War Two, he decided to study meteorology.In 1991, Lorenz won the Kyoto Prize for basic sciences in the field of earth and planetary sciences.