Dynamical Systems A Renewal Of Mechanism Contennial Of Georges David Birkhoff

This book commemorates the centenary of the birth of Georges David Birhoff, the father of the theory of Dynamical Systems. It consists of a volume of dedicated papers, reflecting the intellectual revolution of his work. This book is divided into four parts: Fundamental Paradigms ? Chaos, Turbulence, Attractors, Bifurcations; Dynamical Systems and Microphysics; Self-Organization and Biological Dynamical Systems; Epistemology and History.

This book commemorates the centenary of the birth of Georges David Birhoff, the father of the theory of Dynamical Systems. It consists of a volume of dedicated papers, reflecting the intellectual revolution of his work. This book is divided into four parts: Fundamental Paradigms — Chaos, Turbulence, Attractors, Bifurcations; Dynamical Systems and Microphysics; Self-Organization and Biological Dynamical Systems; Epistemology and History.

Determinism, holism and complexity: three epistemological attitudes that have easily identifiable historical origins and developments. Galileo believed that it was necessary to "prune the impediments" to extract the mathematical essence of physical phenomena, to identify the math ematical structures representing the underlying laws. This Galilean method was the key element in the development of Physics, with its extraordinary successes. Nevertheless the method was later criticized because it led to a view of nature as essentially "simple and orderly", and thus by choosing not to investigate several charac teristics considered as an "impediment", several essential aspects of the phenomenon under investigation might be left out. The Galilean point of view also contains an acknowledgement of the central role played by the causal nexus among phenomena. The mechanistic-deterministic de scription of reality - for instance, a la Laplace - although acknowledging that it is not possible to predict phenomena exactly owing to unavoid able measurement error, is based on the recognition of the their causal nature, even in an ontological sense. Consequently, deterministic predic tion became the methodological fulcrum of mathematical physics. But although mechanistic determinism has had and, in many cases, still has, considerable success in Physics, in other branches of science this situa tion is much less favourable.

This work is concerned with the ways in which the talk of the 1930s evolved into technical analysis of some mathematical structures. It describes the context for the history of that change and shows how the history of modern economics can be seen as a confluence of several disparate traditions.

His research in dynamics constitutes the middle period of Birkhoff's scientific career, that of maturity and greatest power. --Yearbook of the American Philosophical Society The author's great book ... is well known to all, and the diverse active modern developments in mathematics which have been inspired by this volume bear the most eloquent testimony to its quality and influence. --Zentralblatt MATH In 1927, G. D. Birkhoff wrote a remarkable treatise on the theory of dynamical systems that would inspire many later mathematicians to do great work. To a large extent, Birkhoff was writing about his own work on the subject, which was itself strongly influenced by Poincare's approach to dynamical systems. With this book, Birkhoff also demonstrated that the subject was a beautiful theory, much more than a compendium of individual results. The influence of this work can be found in many fields, including differential equations, mathematical physics, and even what is now known as Morse theory. The present volume is the revised 1966 reprinting of the book, including a new addendum, some footnotes, references added by Jurgen Moser, and a special preface by Marston Morse. Although dynamical systems has thrived in the decades since Birkhoff's book was published, this treatise continues to offer insight and inspiration for still more generations of mathematicians.

These proceedings contain papers presented at the 8th Discrete Geometry for Computer Imagery conference, held 17-19, March 1999 at ESIEE, Marne-la- Vall ee. The domains of discrete geometry and computer imagery are closely related. Discrete geometry provides both theoretical and algorithmic models for the p- cessing, analysis and synthesis of images; in return computer imagery, in its variety of applications, constitutes a remarkable experimentational eld and is a source of challenging problems. The number of returning participants, the arrival each year of contributions from new laboratories and new researchers, as well as the quality and originality of the results have contributed to the success of the conference and are an - dication of the dynamism of this eld. The DGCI has become one of the major conferences related to this topic, including participating researchers and la- ratories from all over the world. Of the 41 papers received this year, 24 have been selected for presentation and 7 for poster sessions. In addition to these, four invited speakers have contributed to the conference. The site of Marne-la-Vall ee, just 20 min away from Paris, is particularly we- suited to hold the conference. Indeed, as a newly built city, it showcases a great amount of modern creative architecture, whose pure lines and original shapes o er a favorable context for the topic of Geometry.