Established in 1961 by the meteorologist Edward N. Lorenz in attempting to forecast weather systems, it is a branch of mathematics termed non-linear dynamics that focuses on irregular and complex behavior that never has an underlying order, and on events and processes that cannot be predicted, except over the short term. Its establishment ended the long-term association between classical determinism and predictability. The mathematical tools of chaos theory have been applied to analysing brain activity (e.g., by means of EEG) and the spontaneous movements of human infants.
See Catastrophe theory, Chaos, Control parameter, Determinism, Fractals, Irreversible thermodynamics, Non-linear dynamics, Order, Prediction and explanation, Synergetics