Norman Packard

Timeline

1. 1976–1981

   A chaos collective in Santa Cruz

   A Reed College alumnus with a PhD from UC Santa Cruz, he forms the Dynamical Systems Collective there between 1976 and 1981 with fellow physics graduate students Rob Shaw, Doyne Farmer and James Crutchfield. The group is best known for probing chaotic systems for signs of order. During the same period, he also works with Farmer on the Eudaemons roulette project, a toe-operated computer told in Thomas Bass's 1985 book The Eudaemonic Pie.

2. 1982–1983

   Fellowships in France and Princeton

   In 1982, he wins a NATO postdoctoral fellowship to study at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in Bures-sur-Yvette, France. In 1983, he joins the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where he works with Stephen Wolfram and Rob Shaw on complex systems.

3. 1985–1988

   Illinois and the edge of chaos

   In 1985, he moves with Stephen Wolfram to the physics department of the University of Illinois, where they found the Center for Complex Systems Research. He and Doyne Farmer also see in 1985 that their research in chaos, genetic algorithms and cellular automata could help build a system for predicting the stock market. Credited with coining the phrase "the edge of chaos" in the late 1980s, he writes Adaptation Toward the Edge of Chaos at the center in 1988.

4. 1991

   Co-founding Prediction Company

   In 1991, he co-founds Prediction Company in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with Doyne Farmer and James McGill. The firm uses forecasting techniques to build trading systems for financial markets, throwing pattern-finding strategies of every kind at the data to optimize its algorithms. UBS buys the company outright in 2005.

5. 2004

   A centre for living technology

   In 2004, he is one of the founders of the European Centre for Living Technology, hosted by Ca' Foscari University of Venice, where he serves on the science board and as co-director. While in Venice, he founds ProtoLife, the first company to capitalize on living technology, which aims to optimize complex chemical reactions and other complex processes.

6. 2011

   Chief Science Officer at Lucky Sort

   In 2011, he joins Lucky Sort as Chief Science Officer, guiding research to discover and display structure in high-volume text data streams. Twitter eventually acquires the company.

7. 2018

   ProtoLife becomes Daptics

   In 2018, he launches a web-based optimization and discovery tool, a form of software as a service, and changes the company name from ProtoLife to Daptics to reflect its new focus. The tool targets the optimization of complex chemical reactions and other complex processes.

8. As of October 2026

   Director in Venice

   He sits on the Board of Directors and the Science Board of the European Centre for Living Technology at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, which he helped found in 2004.