A brief history of cellular automats

Cellular automata are simple models of computation which exhibit fascinatin gly complex behavior. They have captured the attention of several generatio ns of researchers, leading to an extensive body of work. Here we trace a hi story of cellular automata from their beginnings with von Neumann to the pr esent day. The emphasis is mainly on topics closer to computer science and mathematics rather than physics, biology or other applications. The work sh ould be of interest to both new entrants into the field as well as research ers working on particular aspects of cellular automata.