Groundbreaking mathematician Gregory Chaitin gives us the first book to posit that we can prove how Darwin’s theory of evolution works on a mathematical level.

For years it has been received wisdom among most scientists that, just as Darwin claimed, all of the Earth’s life-forms evolved by blind chance. But does Darwin’s theory function on a purely mathematical level? Has there been enough time for evolution to produce the remarkable biological diversity we see around us? It’s a question no one has yet answered—in fact, no one has even attempted to answer it until now.

In this illuminating and provocative book, Gregory Chaitin argues that we can’t be sure evolution makes sense without a mathematical theory. He elucidates the mathematical scheme he’s developed that can explain life itself, and examines the works of mathematical pioneers John von Neumann and Alan Turing through the lens of biology. Chaitin presents an accessible introduction to metabiology, a new way of thinking about biological science that highlights the mathematical structures underpinning the biological world. Fascinating and thought-provoking, Proving Darwin makes clear how biology may have found its greatest ally in mathematics.

格雷戈里•蔡汀（Gregory Chaitin）

1947年出生于美国芝加哥的一个阿根廷移民家庭,在纽约度过了童年时期。还是在高中时,他写作了自己第一篇发表的学术论文。在就读于纽约城市大学时,他写作了一篇长篇论文,独立发现了柯氏复杂性（另外两位独立的发现者是柯尔莫哥洛夫和所罗门诺夫）,他因而被称为算法信息论的开创者之一。但大二没有结束,他中止了学业,随父母返回阿根廷。其后他陆续在布宜诺斯艾利斯的IBM分公司担任过程序员,在纽约的IBM沃森研究中心担任过研究员。

之后,他全身心投入到算法信息论及相关领域的研究。他提出了著名的蔡汀常数Ω,一个可定义却不可计算的实数。他对形而上学和数学哲学也有着深入的思考,认为算法信息论是破解生物学和神经科学等领域的一些重大问题的关键,并致力于发展关于进化和生物创造性的一个数学理论。

他现为里约热内卢联邦大学教授,拥有两个名誉博士学位,著有《元数学！追寻奥米伽》（Meta Maths! The Quest for Omega）、《与一个数学家的对话》（Conversations with a Mathematician）以及《算法信息论》（Algorithmic Information Theory）等。