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Post on Edward Lorenz & Discovery of Chaos — Image Research & Licensing Report

All candidate images verified against Wikimedia Commons file pages. Direct CDN URLs confirmed working on upload.wikimedia.org. No fair-use images included.

Image: EdwardLorenz_portrait.jpg

  • What it shows: The widely-circulated grayscale portrait of Edward N. Lorenz (head-and-shoulders, MIT era). The canonical Lorenz portrait used on Wikipedia and most encyclopaedic profiles.
  • File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EdwardLorenz.jpg
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/EdwardLorenz.jpg
  • License: “Attribution-only license” (AIP free attribution permission, accepted by Wikimedia Commons as a free license; Wikidata Q98923445). NOT a standard CC tag, but the file page explicitly states: “The copyright holder of this file, American Institute of Physics (AIP), allows anyone to use it for any purpose, provided that the copyright holder is properly attributed.” No NonCommercial restriction.
  • Author / date: American Institute of Physics, Emilio Segrè Visual Archives. Date unknown (likely 1960s-70s).
  • Why it suits the post: This is THE Lorenz portrait. It is the only known free-licensed photo of him at working age. Use as the post’s primary biographical image. Credit line must include AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives. Note: not a strict CC license, so be deliberate about wording in the figcaption (do not call it “CC BY”) — describe as “courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, free attribution license.”

Image: Lorenz_attractor_yb.svg

  • What it shows: The classic Lorenz attractor butterfly, rendered as a vector graphic with the trajectory colour-faded yellow-to-blue along its path. The most-used Lorenz attractor image on Wikipedia worldwide.
  • File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lorenz_attractor_yb.svg
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Lorenz_attractor_yb.svg
  • License: Multi-licensed: GFDL v1.2+, CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported, CC BY-SA 2.5, 2.0, 1.0. Pick CC BY-SA 3.0 for the figcaption.
  • Author / date: Wikimol & Dschwen, 4 January 2006. Canonical parameters σ=10, r=28, b=8/3.
  • Why it suits the post: SVG, so it stays crisp at any size. The fade-along-trajectory colouring conveys time evolution visually — useful when you describe the attractor as a trajectory that never repeats. Best choice if you want one Lorenz attractor figure.

Image: Lorenz_attractor_boxed.svg

  • What it shows: Ultra-high-resolution rendering of the Lorenz attractor with a bounding box and visible coordinate axes — cleaner geometry, more “textbook figure” in feel.
  • File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lorenz_attractor_boxed.svg
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Lorenz_attractor_boxed.svg
  • License: Multi-licensed: GFDL v1.2+, CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported, CC BY-SA 2.1 Japan.
  • Author / date: Wikimedia user D.328, 12-13 March 2008, generated with Mathematica.
  • Why it suits the post: Alternative to the yb.svg if you want explicit axes shown — especially helpful if the post text refers to the three variables (X, Y, Z) of the Lorenz 1963 system. The boxed framing also reads more “scientific” than artistic.

Image: Lorenz_system_r28_s10_b2-6666.png

  • What it shows: Raster (PNG) rendering of the Lorenz butterfly at canonical parameters, 2048×2048, computed with Fractint.
  • File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lorenz_system_r28_s10_b2-6666.png
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Lorenz_system_r28_s10_b2-6666.png
  • License: Public domain — released by the copyright holder (no attribution legally required).
  • Author / date: Wikimol, 25 May 2005.
  • Why it suits the post: Best PD option if you want zero attribution friction. Slightly less artistic than the SVGs, but high-resolution and clean.

Image: TwoLorenzOrbits.jpg

  • What it shows: Two nearly-identical Lorenz trajectories (blue and yellow) started from minutely different initial conditions, diverging as they orbit the attractor. This is the literal visual representation of “sensitive dependence on initial conditions.”
  • File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TwoLorenzOrbits.jpg
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/TwoLorenzOrbits.jpg
  • License: CC BY 2.5 Generic
  • Author / date: Wikimedia user Hellisp, 9 September 2007.
  • Why it suits the post: Probably the single most pedagogically useful figure for a Lorenz post. Shows two trajectories starting from (0,0,1) vs. a tiny perturbation, with one staying coherent until the orbits visibly fork. Pair it with the static attractor image — first show the butterfly, then show why neighbouring points on it don’t stay neighbours.

Image: Error_growth_on_the_Lorenz_attractor.jpg

  • What it shows: Finite-time error growth on the Lorenz attractor for three probabilistic ensemble forecasts, with uncertainty clouds tracing out very different shapes depending on where on the attractor the ensemble starts.
  • File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Error_growth_on_the_Lorenz_attractor.jpg
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Error_growth_on_the_Lorenz_attractor.jpg
  • License: CC BY 4.0
  • Author / date: Julia Slingo and Tim Palmer, 13 December 2011.
  • Why it suits the post: A bridge image from Lorenz to modern ensemble forecasting — literally co-authored by Tim Palmer (the figure that motivated ECMWF ensembles). If the post pivots from 1963 chaos to its operational legacy, this is the figure to cite. Bonus: lets you credit Palmer in the caption without needing a separate portrait.

Image: LGP-30.jc.jpg

  • What it shows: A complete Royal McBee LGP-30 desktop computer, the actual model Lorenz used to discover chaos in 1961. Vacuum-tube machine with attached Flexowriter typewriter terminal.
  • File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LGP-30.jc.jpg
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/LGP-30.jc.jpg
  • License: CC BY 2.0
  • Author / date: Jitze Couperus, 21 January 2010 (Flickr: “The machine that Mel programmed”). High resolution: 4368×2912.
  • Why it suits the post: This is the machine. Lorenz typed numbers into a Flexowriter exactly like this one, watched the drum-memory printout, and noticed the cup-of-coffee divergence. The Couperus photo is well-lit and high-res; preferred over the Wichary version (LGP-30.jpg) for image quality.

Image: LGP-30.jpg (alternate)

  • What it shows: Another full LGP-30 from a different angle, Computer History Museum loan piece.
  • File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LGP-30.jpg
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/LGP-30.jpg
  • License: CC BY 2.0
  • Author / date: Marcin Wichary, 22 March 2008.
  • Why it suits the post: Backup option to the Couperus shot. Use if the Couperus angle/lighting doesn’t fit; otherwise prefer LGP-30.jc.jpg.

Image: 2017Green_Building(MIT_Building_54).jpg

  • What it shows: MIT’s Cecil and Ida Green Building (Building 54), the I.M. Pei concrete tower that houses MIT EAPS — Lorenz’s professional home from its 1964 opening until his death.
  • File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2017Green_Building(MIT_Building_54).jpg
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/2017Green_Building%28MIT_Building_54%29.jpg
  • License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (also released under GFDL v1.2+ and earlier CC BY-SA versions; pick CC BY-SA 4.0)
  • Author / date: Beyond My Ken, 12 August 2017.
  • Why it suits the post: Lorenz’s office was on the 16th floor of this building. Including it gives a sense of place: meteorology at MIT was vertically stacked above EAPS, and the Lorenz Center now lives there too. Note that Lorenz did his 1961-63 chaos work in MIT’s older Building 24 — Building 54 opened in 1964, so this image is “where he spent the bulk of his career,” not “where chaos was discovered.” Mention this nuance in the caption if you use it.

Image: Carl_G.A._Rossby_LCCN2016875745(cropped).jpg

  • What it shows: Carl-Gustaf Rossby in a formal Harris & Ewing studio portrait, 1939, when he became Assistant Chief of the US Weather Bureau under Reichelderfer.
  • File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carl_G.A._Rossby_LCCN2016875745(cropped).jpg
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Carl_G.A._Rossby_LCCN2016875745%28cropped%29.jpg
  • License: Public domain (+), Library of Congress, Harris & Ewing Collection.
  • Author / date: Harris & Ewing, 1939.
  • Why it suits the post: Rossby founded the MIT meteorology department in 1928 — the institutional and intellectual lineage that brought Lorenz to MIT. If the post mentions Lorenz’s PhD advisor (James Austin) or the Rossby-trained generation that shaped American dynamical meteorology, this portrait is the historical anchor. PD = no attribution friction.

Image: Tim_Palmer_World_Economic_Forum_2013.jpg

  • What it shows: Tim Palmer at the 2013 World Economic Forum in Davos, professional speaker portrait.
  • File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tim_Palmer_World_Economic_Forum_2013.jpg
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Tim_Palmer_World_Economic_Forum_2013.jpg
  • License: CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic
  • Author / date: Sebastian Derungs / World Economic Forum, 26 January 2013.
  • Why it suits the post: Palmer is the most direct intellectual heir to Lorenz in modern forecasting — he built ECMWF ensemble prediction on the back of Lorenz’s sensitive-dependence argument. Use if the post pivots to the operational consequences of chaos (1992 onwards). Alternative: skip the portrait and use the Slingo-Palmer “Error_growth” figure above, which credits him visually rather than photographically.

Image: Kerry_Emanuel_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg

  • What it shows: Kerry Emanuel at a public-speaking event, modern colour portrait.
  • File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kerry_Emanuel_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Kerry_Emanuel_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg
  • License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported
  • Author / date: Gage Skidmore, 14 July 2016.
  • Why it suits the post: Emanuel was Lorenz’s MIT colleague, wrote the most-cited Lorenz biographical memoir (NAS 2011), and was a primary source on Lorenz’s working style. Use if the post cites Emanuel’s memoir directly or if you need a “next-generation MIT meteorologist” portrait.

NOT USABLE — Tempting but legally unsafe

Lorenz’s actual 1963 figure of the attractor (Journal of Atmospheric Sciences)

  • The original Figure 1-2 of Lorenz, “Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow,” J. Atmos. Sci. 20 (1963): 130-141, is copyrighted by the American Meteorological Society. AMS journal figures pre-2014 are not open-access and are not on Commons. Do NOT scan or reuse. Use one of the modern Wikimedia attractor renders instead — they show the same geometry, parametrised identically.

MIT Museum / MIT News photos of Lorenz

  • MIT News press photos and MIT Museum holdings are NOT released under CC unless an individual file explicitly says so. The “Lorenz Center” page at lorenz.mit.edu uses photos credited to MIT Museum and Omari Stephens ‘08 / The Tech — these are press-use-only, not Commons. Do not lift them.

Painted portrait of Lorenz by Thierry Ehrmann (“Abode of Chaos” series, Flickr)

  • Technically CC BY 2.0 and reusable, BUT this is a painted artistic interpretation, not a photograph of Lorenz. It could mislead readers into thinking they are seeing a real photo. Mention only if the post discusses chaos-art reception; otherwise skip.

Getty Images / Britannica / academic-press Lorenz portraits

  • Commercial stock. Not Commons. Not reusable.

Lorenz at the blackboard / Lorenz with the LGP-30 working photos

  • The famous “Lorenz with the LGP-30” working photographs are AIP/MIT Museum holdings and are NOT freely licensed. The EdwardLorenz.jpg portrait above is the only free Lorenz photo confirmed.

Summary recommendation (6-image set)

If the post needs a tight image set:

  1. EdwardLorenz.jpg — opening biographical portrait (AIP attribution license).
  2. LGP-30.jc.jpg — the machine where chaos was discovered (CC BY 2.0).
  3. Lorenz_attractor_yb.svg OR Lorenz_system_r28_s10_b2-6666.png — the canonical butterfly (CC BY-SA 3.0 or PD).
  4. TwoLorenzOrbits.jpg — sensitive dependence in one figure (CC BY 2.5).
  5. Carl_G.A._Rossby_LCCN2016875745(cropped).jpg — Rossby lineage at MIT (PD).
  6. Error_growth_on_the_Lorenz_attractor.jpg — the legacy in operational forecasting (CC BY 4.0).

Optional additions: 2017_Green_Building (MIT context), Tim_Palmer or Kerry_Emanuel portrait (modern voices).