Butterfly Affect

The butterfly effect is a phenomenon in chaos theory whereby a minor change in circumstances can cause a large change in outcome. The scientific concept is attributed to Edward Lorenz, a mathematician and meteorologist who used the metaphor to describe his research findings related to chaos theory and weather prediction, initially in a 1972 paper titled "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?" The butterfly metaphor is attributed to the 1952 Ray Bradbury short story "A Sound of Thunder". The concept has been widely adopted by popular culture, and interpreted to mean that small events have a rippling effect that cause much larger events to occur, and has become a common reference.