Gosper's glider gun is the first known
gun, and and the first known
finite pattern with
unbounded growth (termed
infinite growth). It was discovered by
Bill Gosper in November 1970. To date, it remains by far the smallest
known gun, though numerous other guns have been found (many by Gosper).
........................O...........
......................O.O...........
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...........O...O....OO............OO
OO........O.....O...OO..............
OO........O...O.OO....O.O...........
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Technically, this pattern is a member of the class of
blinkers within Life. The period of the glider gun is 30 - every 30
iterations it returns to the
initial state with one exception - the creation of a glider.
Within the terminology of life enthusiasts, the gun is made of a two queen bee shuttles (shown above in various stages of movement). When they collide just right the debris form a glider. The queen bee shuttle is the basis for all true period 30 glider guns.
There are faster period glider producers though none are as elegant as the original. A period 15 glider gun was constructed however it comprises of 542 cells (much larger than can reasonably be shown within the confines of E2), though these are pseudo guns that have multiple guns that oscillate and produce gliders in the space left between gliders of other guns.