Glider (Conway's Game of Life)

It was first discovered by Richard K. Guy in 1969, while John Conway's group was attempting to track the evolution of the R-pentomino.

[1] The name comes from the fact that, after two steps, the glider pattern repeats its configuration with a glide reflection symmetry.

The game was developed before the widespread use of interactive computers, and after seeing it animated, he feels the glider looks more like an ant walking across the plane.

[3] Gliders are important to the Game of Life because they are easily produced, can be collided with each other to form more complicated objects, and can be used to transmit information over long distances.

Patterns such as blocks, beehives, blinkers, traffic lights, even the uncommon Eater, can be synthesized with just two gliders.

Some patterns require a very large number (sometimes hundreds) of glider collisions; some oscillators, exotic spaceships, puffer trains, guns, etc.

The mutation and movement of a "glider".
A three-dimensional view of a glider, with previous generations visible going down the z-axis. The c/4 period is clearly visible as "stacks" of cells that remain alive for successive generations.