Professor Peter Scott Emeritus Professor of Physics U. C. Santa Cruz Dear Professor Scott: Thanks for your e-mail. The idea of using a special water wheel to reproduce the qualitative behavior of solutions of my system of equations apparently originated with Willem Malkus, now an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at M.I.T. He constructed a rather elaborate apparatus with which he was able to perform quantitative experiments. Louis Howard, then of M.I.T. but more recently of Florida State University, and Ruby Krishnamurti, of Florida State, also (subsequently, I believe) constructed somewhat simpler water wheels from which they could gather experimental data. I had nothing to do with the water wheel itself, other than drawing the schematic picture that appears in my book. I hope that your talk interests the group. Sincerely yours, Edward N. Lorenz At 11:46 PM 3/12/2007, you wrote: >Dear Professor Lorenz, > >I am scheduled to give an informal talk to our emeriti group >about the Lorenz Equations and the "Lorenz" water wheel, and I >was wondering if the illustration of the water wheel originated >with you. It's a wonderful device. > >Any thoughts would be most welcome, and I hope you are well. > >Sincerely, > >Peter Scott >Emeritus Professor of Physics >UC Santa Cruz