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            +   Department of Computer Science Seminar   +
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0. Calendar Manager Info:

        Date:   Wed Nov 20 1996
        Start:  1600
        End:    1700
        What:   ANU DCS Seminar - David I. Bell
		Conway's Game of Life
                
1. Speaker: David I. Bell

2. Time:    4:00pm - 5:00pm, Wednesday, 20th November 1996 (Wednesday)

3. Place:   Room N101 in the Department of Computer Science
            Ground Floor, CSIT Building, ANU

4. Title:   Conway's Game of Life

5. Target Audience: honours students and above, and final-year students
		    who have an interest in the area

6. Abstract:
	
I present results about Conway's Game of Life, and discuss some of the
history and people behind them.  Firstly, I introduce the game and
demonstrate some simple results before more complicated and fun ones
which illustrate what is known about the game.  I shall use my
powerful Life program to do this.

Conway's Game of Life uses a square grid, two states, and rules which
suggest the birth and death of organisms.  Objects can grow, die,
move, and reproduce.  There are many colourful names for them:
gliders, spaceships, puffer trains, guns, oscillators, and
spacefillers.  Logic such as NOT gates and AND gates can be
constructed so that "computers" can be built.

Life is a simple example of a Cellular Automaton: a mathematical
entity consisting of a grid of cells along with connections between
the cells; a set of states such that each cell takes on one state at a
time; and a fixed set of rules which transform the state of a cell
depending on its state and the states of its neighbours. They were
introduced to the general public in the Mathematical Games section of
"Scientific American" in 1970.  Even though a cellular automaton's
rules are very simple, its behaviour can be very complicated.

7. Biography:

David I. Bell is a software engineer with GEC-Marconi.  He has been
interested in the Game of Life well before receiving his BS in
Mathematics from Caltech in 1975.  He is in regular contact with many
leading Life specialists, and has made many important contributions to
the game.  He has written a number of articles about the game which
have been posted to the net.

8. Contact:
	For more information contact dbell[at]canb.auug.org.au

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