An Introduction To Percolation Theory

Abstract The basic ideas of percolation theory were anticipated in the early 1940s in the theory of polymer gelation (Flory 1941, Stockmayer 1944) and in the theory of branching processes (Good 1949). However, the genesis of percolation theory may be attributed justly to Broadbent (1954) in the published discussion of a paper by Hammersley and Morton (1954) on Monte Carlo methods. The early history of the subject is discussed by Hammersley (1983): Broadbent was at that time working at the British Coal Utilization Research Association on the design of gas masks for use in coal mines.