Cellular Automata

Adam Sultanov
Nov 2 · 6 min read

An Abridged History

Photo by Rock'n Roll Monkey on Unsplash

No, not that kind of automaton. Let’s back up.

Origins

Cellular automata (CA) are mathematical models containing a grid of cells, usually (but not limited to) two dimensions. The concept was discovered by John von Neumann while studying self-replicating machines at the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico in the 1940s.

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