A Life pattern which has no father pattern and therefore can occur only at generation 0. The term was first used in connection with cellular automata by John W. Tukey, many years before the game of Life. Due to a theorem by Edward Moore that guarantees their existence in a wide class of cellular automata, it was long known that Gardens of Eden exist in Life.

The above left pattern has 226 bits and was found by R. Banks in 1971, the first such pattern found in the game of Life. Another Garden of Eden pattern was found by J. Hardouin-Duparc in 1974, and is in a box. Flammenkamp found a 143-bit pattern in a box (above right; Silver). It is not known if a pattern which has a father pattern, but no grandfather pattern exists (Gardner 1983, p. 249).

Father Pattern, Grandfather Pattern

References

Flammenkamp, A. "Game of Life." http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/~achim/gol.html.

Gardner, M. Wheels, Life, and Other Mathematical Amusements. New York: W. H. Freeman, pp. 230 and 248-249, 1983.

Silver, S. A. "Life Lexicon." Release 17, 2000 August 24. http://www.argentum.freeserve.co.uk/lex.htm.