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In the past few years, a new line of scientific inquiry called
"chaos theory" has caught the popular imagination. Young people, in
particular, have taken to the complex computer-generated patterns that seem to
teeter precariously between order and randomness. A dazzling mathematical object,
the Mandelbrot set, now decorates posters, record sleeves, and pop videos (as
well as the back cover of this book jacket). Chaos theory,
it turns out, has a deeper meaning for our understanding of nature. All sorts
of phenomena -- from dripping faucets to swinging pendulums, from the unpredictability
of the weather to the majestic parade of the planets, from heart rhythms to gold
futures -- are best perceived through the mathematical prism of chaos theory.
In this collection of incisive, front-line reports, ably edited
by Nina Hall for New Scientist magazine, internationally recognized experts
such as Ian Stewart, Robert May, and Benoit Mandelbrot draw on the latest research
to explain the roots of chaos in modern science and mathematics. Nina
Hall was physical sciences editor of New Scientist at the time that she
organized the series of articles in this collection. She is now working on the
start-up of a new monthly science magazine in London. Ms. Hall has a chemistry
degree from the University of Oxford. After working in industry and having a family,
she worked as features editor on Chemistry in Britain, and later as science
correspondent on the Times Higher Education Supplement. |
