Sans les mathématiques on ne pénètre point au fond de la philosophie.
Sans la philosophie on ne pénètre point au fond des mathématiques.
Sans les deux on ne pénètre au fond de rien. — Leibniz

[Without mathematics we cannot penetrate deeply into philosophy.
Without philosophy we cannot penetrate deeply into mathematics.
Without both we cannot penetrate deeply into anything.]

Tribute to Leibniz: Essay on Leibniz, Complexity and Incompleteness


METABIOLOGY: a field parallel to biology, dealing with the random evolution of artificial software (computer programs) rather than natural software (DNA), and simple enough that it is possible to prove rigorous theorems or formulate heuristic arguments at the same high level of precision that is common in theoretical physics. For more information about this new field see Proving Darwin and the material on metabiology at the Virginia Chaitin home page.


Ursula Molter, Gregory Chaitin and Hernán Lombardi opening the Buenos Aires Mathematics Festival (Argentina, May 2009)

G J Chaitin Home Page

Gregory Chaitin is well known for his work on metamathematics and for the celebrated Ω number, which shows that God plays dice in pure mathematics. He has published many books on such topics, including Meta Math! The Quest for Omega. His latest book, Proving Darwin: Making Biology Mathematical, attempts to create a mathematical theory of evolution and biological creativity.

He is a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and an honorary professor at the University of Buenos Aires, and has honorary doctorates from the University of Cordoba in Argentina and the University of Maine in the United States. He is also a member of the Académie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences (Belgium).

Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, 1970. Photo by Peter Albrecht


Contents

Latest Book Covers     Books     Selected Papers

Lectures     Madrid Metabiology Course

Leibniz/Chaitin Medal     More Photos

UFRJ Course Material     CV     LISP Code

Research Timeline Through 2007

Comprehensive List of Publications (1965—2012)


Praise for Proving Darwin


Latest Book Covers

     


Books


Videos of Lectures


Videos of Madrid Metabiology Course (Oct 2011)

Please Note that there are two missing ten-minute segments. This material is also available in the form of playlists: Warning: Part 8 of Day 2 is not included and has to be watched separately.


Selected Papers


UFRJ Course Material


The Leibniz/Chaitin Medal

Medallion commemorating Leibniz's discovery of binary arithmetic and the Ω number presented by Stephen Wolfram to Gregory Chaitin, 15 July 2007:

History of the Leibniz/Chaitin medal       Story of the Latin translation


Visit to Cornell University, Winter 1973-1974. Photo by Terry Fine

1987 photo by Alan Haywood


LISP Software for Springer Books

The Limits of Mathematics (1998)

LISP Code

LISP Runs

The Unknowable (1999)

LISP Code

LISP Runs

Exploring Randomness (2001)

Part I—Introduction

Part II—Program-Size

Part III—Randomness

Part IV—Future Work


$$\Omega = \sum_{\text{program $P$ halts}} 2^{-(\text{the size in bits of $P$})}$$