Editing Oscillator (cellular automaton) (section)

==Types==
Oscillators had been identified and named as early as 1971.<ref>{{cite web |date=March 1971 |editor=Robert T. Wainwright |title=Lifeline Volume 1 |url=https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Lifeline_Volume_1}}</ref>

David Buckingham identified in 1996 a family of patterns named "[https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Herschel_conduit Herschel conduits]", with which one can construct arbitrary period ''n'' oscillators for every ''n ≥ 58'', and true period n guns for every ''n ≥ 62''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Buckingham on B-heptomino/Herschel oscillators |url=http://www.radicaleye.com/lifepage/patterns/bhept/bhept.html |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=www.radicaleye.com}}</ref> The discovery of the "[https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Snark Snark]" by Mike Playle in April 2013 allowed the construction of oscillators of all periods ''n ≥ 43''. It consisted of 4 "mirrors" for gliders, arranged in a rectangular loop, so that by simply enlarging the loop, oscillators of increasing periods could be made. Smaller than period-43 is impossible by this construction, since it would cause the 4 mirrors to interfere with each other.<ref>https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Omniperiodic</ref>

The last remaining oscillator periods were constructed in 2023, proving Conway's Game of Life '''omniperiodic'''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=LifeWiki:Game of Life Status page - LifeWiki |url=https://conwaylife.com/wiki/LifeWiki:Game_of_Life_Status_page |access-date=2023-12-16 |website=conwaylife.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stone |first=Alex |date=2024-01-18 |title=Math’s ‘Game of Life’ Reveals Long-Sought Repeating Patterns |url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/maths-game-of-life-reveals-long-sought-repeating-patterns-20240118/ |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Quanta Magazine |language=en}}</ref> A brief review of the history of oscillator constructions is in the paper.<ref>{{cite arXiv |eprint=2312.02799 |class=math.CO |first1=Nico |last1=Brown |first2=Carson |last2=Cheng |title=Conway's Game of Life is Omniperiodic |date=5 December 2023 |last3=Jacobi |first3=Tanner |last4=Karpovich |first4=Maia |last5=Merzenich |first5=Matthias |last6=Raucci |first6=David |last7=Riley |first7=Mitchell}}</ref>