Alfred J. Lotka | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 2 March 1880 Lwów, Austria-Hungary (now Lviv, Ukraine) |
| Died | 5 December 1949 (aged 69) Red Bank, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | The Lotka–Volterra equations |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
Alfred James Lotka (March 2, 1880 – December 5, 1949) was a Polish-American mathematician, physical chemist, and statistician, famous for his work in population dynamics and energetics. A biophysicist, Lotka is best known for his proposal of the predator–prey model, developed simultaneously but independently of Vito Volterra. The Lotka–Volterra model is still the basis of many models used in the analysis of population dynamics in ecology.