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Dr. David Orrell

David Orrell, Ph.D. is a scientist and author of popular science books. He studied mathematics at the University of Alberta, and obtained his Ph.D. from Oxford University on the prediction of nonlinear systems.
 
His work in mathematical modeling and complex systems research has led him to diverse areas such as weather forecasting, particle accelerator design, economics, and cancer biology. He has authored or coauthored research papers for journals including Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Nature Genetics, the International Journal of Bifurcations and Chaos, and Physica D.
 
He is the author of The Other Side of the Coin: The Emerging Vision of Economics and Our Place in The World about new economic theories; and The Future of Everything: The Science of Prediction about prediction in weather, genetics, and economics, which was a national bestseller and finalist for the 2007 Canadian Science Writers’ Association book award. Foresight called it “An engaging, as well as deeply insightful, discussion on the difficult task of prediction … it can change the way you view forecasting.”
 
David has been a guest on radio shows including Coast to Coast AM, NPR, and BBC, and his work has been featured in print media such as New Scientist and the Financial Times. He has spoken at many conferences and events including the Art Center Global Dialogues on Disruptive Thinking. He currently lives in Oxford, UK, where he works for a biotechnology firm.
 
David authored Estimating error growth and shadow behavior in nonlinear dynamical systems, Filtering chaos: A technique to estimate dynamical and observational noise in nonlinear systems, and Ensemble forecasting in a system with model error, and coauthored Feedback control of stochastic noise in the yeast galactose utilization pathway, A method to estimate stochastic noise in large genetic regulatory networks, Evolution of “design principles” in biology and engineering, and The spectral bifurcation diagram: Visualizing bifurcations in high-dimensional systems.
 
Listen to David talk about The Science of Prediction. Read Prescriptions may soon work around the clock.