Ilya Prigogine - R.I.P.

[Brian Olewnick]

The great Belgian chemist and physics theorist Ilya Prigogine died recently at 86. His 'Order Out of Chaos', where he argued that the general entropy of the universe could still allow for the formation of complex systems (counter to the entropy) was my first taste of chaos theory (early 80's, I think).

[Monte Smith]

Huh. I thought Ilya would be another chick you were hot for at summer camp.



He wasn't, was he?

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

A great, original mind! I read his 1997 book "The End of Certainty" a couple of years ago, which attempts to refute the position taken by most physicists that, as Hawking says, "Time is an illusion." Prigogine focuses on "irreversible processes" in thermodynamics and chaos theory to validate time. Fascinating stuff.

[rollhead]

From the looks of those fingernails on his fret hand, I don't think that cat played guitar.

[Nate Dorward]

This is the guy quoted on the Parker/Guy/Lytton disc Imaginary Values, right?