Leonardo Fibonacci c1175-1250.
Fibonacci, or more correctly Leonardo da Pisa, was born in Pisa in 1175AD. He was the son of a Pisan merchant who also served as a customs officer in North Africa. He travelled widely in Barbary (Algeria) and was later sent on business trips to Egypt, Syria, Greece, Sicily and Provence.In 1200 he returned to Pisa and used the knowledge he had gained on his travels to write Liber abaci in which he introduced the Latin-speaking world to the decimal number system. The first chapter of Part 1 begins: "These are the nine figures of the Indians: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. With these nine figures, and with this sign 0 which in Arabic is called zephirum, any number can be written, as will be demonstrated."
Fibonacci is perhaps best known for his series of numbers as described in Liber abaci. Fibonacci's is a series of numbers you get by adding the last two numbers in the series together (after zero and one). For example: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 ....
More than just a pattern, it is among the first lines of evidence to suggest that mathematics can be used to describe the laws of nature. Why a language of numbers we invented should correspond with nature not obvious, but it is a statement which many people accept as truth today.
The ratio of the higher : lower Fibonacci numbers approach the Golden Ratio, 1.614.... This ratio has traditionally represented beauty in architecture and appearance of many things. Fibonacci numbers are still in vogue today. The eleventh conference of the Fibonacci society will take place in the Summer of 2004 at the Technische Universität Braunschweig in Braunschweig (also known as Brunswick), Germany. The 2002 conference in Arizona had sixty-one presenters.
There are some excellent web materials on this subject
Introductory page for a whole lotta Fibonacci links
Examples of Fibonacci numbers in nature
Why the golden ratio is the best for nature
More similar examples of Fibonacci arrangements in nature:
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