Aristid Lindenmayer (17 November 1925 – 30 October 1989) was a Hungarian

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

. In 1968 he developed a type of

formal language In logic, mathematics, computer science, and linguistics, a formal language is a set of strings whose symbols are taken from a set called "alphabet". The alphabet of a formal language consists of symbols that concatenate into strings (also c ...

today called L-systems or Lindenmayer systems. Using those systems Lindenmayer modelled the behaviour of cells of plants. L-systems nowadays are also used to model whole plants. Lindenmayer worked with

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

and filamentous

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

and studied the growth patterns of various types of algae, such as the blue/green bacteria ''Anabaena catenula''. Originally the L-systems were devised to provide a formal description of the development of such simple multicellular organisms, and to illustrate the neighbourhood relationships between plant cells. Later on, this system was extended to describe higher plants and complex branching structures.

Career

Lindenmayer studied chemistry and biology at the Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest from 1943 to 1948. He received his Ph.D. in

plant physiology Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Plant physiologists study fundamental processes of plants, such as photosynthesis, respiration, plant nutrition, plant hormone functions, tr ...

in 1956 at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. In 1968 he became professor in Philosophy of Life Sciences and Biology at the

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of 39,769 students, a ...

, The Netherlands. From 1972 onward he headed the Theoretical Biology Group at Utrecht University.Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz, Martin de Boer (1991) Obituary Aristid Lindenmayer (1925-1989), ''Int. J. General Systems'', Vol 18, pp. 289-290 1991

Publications

*Aristid Lindenmayer, "Mathematical models for cellular interaction in development." ''J. Theoret. Biology,'' 18:280—315, 1968. * (available as a

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)
Further publications

References

1925 births 1989 deaths Hungarian emigrants to the Netherlands Hungarian biologists Scientists from Budapest University of Michigan alumni Academic staff of Utrecht University 20th-century Hungarian biologists Hungarian expatriates in the United States {{Hungary-scientist-stub