Difference between revisions of "Timeline of Life facts"

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This is a timeline of some key events related to the [[Game of Life]] since [[John Conway]] brought it to life.
'''Conway's Game of Life''' is in its forties. This is a timeline of the discoveries of the game [[pattern]]s and related software or inventions.
==Timeline==


== 1970 C.E. ==
=== 1970 ===
* [[John Horton Conway]] invents the [[Game of Life]]
* First [[oscillator]]s of [[period]]s [[:Category:Oscillators with period 2|2]], 3, 4, 8, 14, 15 and 30 are found: [[blinker]], [[pulsar]], [[pinwheel]], [[figure eight]], [[tumbler]], [[pentadecathlon]] and [[queen bee shuttle]]
* The first [[c/4 diagonal]] [[spaceship]], the [[glider]], is discovered by [[Richard Guy]], the only known until 1999
* The first [[c/2 orthogonal]] spaceship, the [[lightweight spaceship]], is found by John Conway
* The first [[gun]], the [[Gosper glider gun]]--the first known finite pattern with [[infinite growth|unbounded growth]]--is discovered by [[Bill Gosper]]
* [[Martin Gardner]] writes two popular "Mathematical Games" columns in ''Scientific American'', thereby introducing the Game of Life to a much wider audience


*John Horton [[Conway]], inventor of the [[Game of Life]].
=== 1970s ===
*First [[oscillator]]s of [[period]]s [[:Category:Oscillators with period 2|2]], 3, 4, 8, 14, 15 and 30 found : [[blinker]], [[pulsar]], [[pinwheel]], [[figure eight]], [[tumbler]], [[pentadecathlon]] and [[queen bee shuttle]].
* [[Lifeline]], first Life newsletter edited and published by [[Robert Wainwright]] (March 1971)
*The first ''c/4'' diagonal spaceship discovered by [[Richard Guy]] : the [[glider]] - the only known till 1999.
* The first known [[puffer]]s that travelled at c/2 orthogonal are found (1971)
*The first ''c/2'' spaceship to be found was the [[lightweight spaceship]], by John Conway


== 1970s ==
=== 1980s ===
* The [[HashLife]] algorithm is first described by [[Bill Gosper]] in the early 1980s
* [[John Conway]] proves in ''[[Winning Ways]]'' that the Game of Life has a (finite) [[universal computer]], as well as a [[universal constructor]] (1982)
* [[Dean Hickerson]] creates the first oscillator [[search program]] (1989)
* As a result of search programs, the first spaceship other than the [[Standard spaceship|standard four]] and flotillas is found (1989)
* [[XLife]] is developed, allowing much larger patterns to be simulated relatively efficiently on "modest hardware" (1989)


*[[Lifeline]], first Life newsletter edited and published by [[Robert Wainwright]], March 1971
=== 1990s ===
*The first known [[puffer]]s that travelled at c/2 orthogonally, found in 1971
* The first [[non-monotonic]] spaceship, the [[13-engine Cordership]], is found (1991)
* [[Johan Bontes]]' fast CA editor [[Life32]] becomes available (mid-1990s)
* The first [[c/5 orthogonal]] spaceship, the [[snail]], is discovered (1996)
* [[Alan Hensel]]'s fast Java applet makes his extensive pattern collection easily available on the Internet (1996)
* [[David Buckingham]] develops a suite of components leading to a universal set of [[Herschel conduit]]s, enabling complex signal processing using stable constellations of small still lifes (1996)
* The first [[true period]] 24 and 48 [[gun]]s are discovered (June 1997)


== 1980s ==
=== 2000s ===
* The [[Caterpillar]], the first self-supporting mega-spaceship, is completed (2004)
* [[Golly]] is born (July 2005)
* [[Brice Due]]'s [[OTCA metapixel]] appears (just in time to show off Golly's HashLife capabilities) (2006)
* [https://conwaylife.com/forums Forums for Conway's Game of Life] is born (December 2008)
* [[Main_Page|LifeWiki]] goes live (January 2009)
* LifeWiki's 600 [[pattern]]s milestone is reached (June 2009)
* First oscillators of period 37 and 51 are found (2009)


*The [[HashLife]] algorithm first described by [[Bill Gosper]] in the early 1980s
=== 2010s ===
*[[Dean Hickerson]] creates the first oscillator search program in 1989
* [[Adam P. Goucher]] completes a [[pi calculator]] pattern based on [[APGsembly]] (2010)
* [[Andrew J. Wade]] surprises the Life community with [[Gemini]], the first complete [[self-constructing]] spaceship
* The [[snark]] is discovered (April 2013)
* [[Adam P. Goucher]]'s [[Catagolue]] online database of objects in CGOL and similar cellular automata is launched (2015)
* [[Conwaylife Lounge]] is born on [https://discord.com Discord] (September 2017)
* The first [[elementary]] [[oblique]] spaceship, [[Sir Robin]], is discovered (March 2018)


== 1990s ==
=== 2020s ===
* [[Conway's Game of Life: Mathematics and Construction]], the definitive CGOL textbook by [[Nathaniel Johnston]] and [[Dave Greene]], is published (2022)
* After 50 years, the [[Unique father problem]] is solved, giving us the first known unsynthesizable still life (2022)
* The first [[Unsynthesizable oscillator 1|unsynthesizable oscillator]] is constructed (2022)
* Life is shown to be [[omniperiodic]] (July 2023)


*The first non-monotonic spaceship, the [[13-engine Cordership]], in 1991
== See also ==
*The first c/5 orthogonal spaceship to be discovered was the [[snail]], 1996
* [[LifeWiki:News archive]], containing a more detailed history of events not included here, from 2009 onwards
*The first true period 24 and 48 guns in June 1997.
; Forum threads
 
* {{LinkForumThread|format=ref|f=7|t=5652|title=Timeline of Life facts}}
== 2000s ==
* {{LinkForumThread|format=ref|f=7|t=5351|title=First Known Oscillators for Each Period}}
 
* {{LinkForumThread|format=ref|f=7|t=4930|title=History Of ConwayLife}}
*First oscillators of period 37, 51 found in 2009
* {{LinkForumThread|format=ref|f=2|t=4744|title=The Past and Future of CGOL}}
*[[Main_Page|LifeWiki]] goes live — January 2009
*LifeWiki's 600 [[pattern]]s milestone — June 2009
 
== 2010s ==
*The first elementary oblique spaceship, [[Sir Robin]], is discovered in late 2018.


[[Category:Everything else]]
[[Category:Everything else]]

Latest revision as of 18:09, 6 August 2023

This is a timeline of some key events related to the Game of Life since John Conway brought it to life.

Timeline

1970

1970s

  • Lifeline, first Life newsletter edited and published by Robert Wainwright (March 1971)
  • The first known puffers that travelled at c/2 orthogonal are found (1971)

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

See also

Forum threads
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