GoKawiilFew scientific papers can be said to have inspired works of literature. ‘Simple mathematical models with very complicated dynamics’1 by Robert May, published in Nature in 1976, is an exception. May was a scientific adviser for Tom Stoppard’s 1993 play Arcadia2, which was inspired by chaos theory. This mathematical framework describes systems in which behaviour is incredibly sensitive to the initial conditions and in which evolution can seem unpredictable, even random, although it is in fact governed by well-defined laws. May’s paper, which focused on ecological systems, was foundational to the development of chaos theory and demonstrated one of its key tenets: that complex behaviour can be described using simple mathematical models.
Nature 654, 335-336 (2026)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-01584-8
References May, R. M. Nature 261, 459–467 (1976). Stoppard, T. Arcadia (Faber & Faber, 1993). Thorne, K. S. & Blandford, R. D. Modern Classical Physics (Princeton Univ. Press, 2017). May, R. M. in It Must Be Beautiful (ed. Farmelo, G.) 28–45 (Granta, 2003). Letellier, C. et al. Chaos 31, 053110 (2021). Poincaré, H. Acta Mathematica 13, 1–270 (1890). Cartwright, M. L. & Littlewood, J. E. J. Lond. Math. Soc. s1-20, 180–189 (1945). Mayer-Kress, G. & Haken, H. J. Stat. Phys. 26, 149–171 (1981). Poon, C. S. & Barahona, M. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 98, 7107–7112 (2001). Erguler, K. & Stumpf, M. P. H. Math. Biosci. 216, 90–99 (2008). Nazish, M., Javid, M. & Banday, M. T. Cybersecurity 8, 24 (2025). Gleick, J. Chaos: Making A New Science (Viking, 1987). May, R. M. Science 303, 790–793 (2004). Haldane, A. G. & May, R. M. Nature 469, 351–355 (2011). Download references
Competing Interests M.P.H.S. is a co-founder, director, shareholder and chief scientific officer of Cell Bauhaus PTY Ltd, and is a member of the Australian Academy of Science National Committee for Data in Science.
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