EML 6229: Introduction to Random Dynamical Systems

• Even after the rigorous theoretical foundations of probability theory were laid down, it was not accepted by all in the scientific and mathematics communities as a legitimate field of mathematics. The primary controversy was one borne out of metaphysical concerns how could the mathematical reality underlying nature be written in the language of chance? Even today, there are researchers who cringe from it, preferring to believe in the deterministic view of the universe. A popular example is Albert Einstein, who stated that “God does not play dice”. Ironically, part of the work for which he won the Nobel prize (his 1905 seminal paper on Brownian motion) became the foundation for the mathematical model of white noise , which is used universally for describing random perturbations in engineering systems.