Benoît Mandelbrot

Benoît B. Mandelbrot (born November 20, 1924) is a Polish-born French mathematician and leading proponent of fractal geometry. He is Sterling Professor of Mathematical Sciences, Emeritus at Yale University and IBM Fellow Emeritus at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center.

Later years

From 1955 onwards Mandelbrot worked on problems and published papers in fields as diverse as information theory, economics and fluid dynamics. He became convinced that a common theme of self-similar structures ran through all of these real-world problems. In 1975 Mandelbrot coined the term fractal to describe these structures, and published his ideas in Les objets fractals, forme, hasard et dimension (translated into English as Fractals: form, chance and dimension in 1977).

Related Topics:
Information theory - Economics - Fluid dynamics - Self-similar - 1975 - Fractal - 1977

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In 1979, while on secondment as Visiting Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University, Mandelbrot began to study fractals called Julia sets that were invariant under certain transformations of the complex plane. Building on previous work by Gaston Julia and Pierre Fatou, Mandelbrot used a computer to plot images of the Julia sets of the formula z2 - ?. While investigating how the topology of these Julia sets depended on the complex parameter ? he discovered the Mandelbrot set fractal that is now named after him (note that the Mandelbrot set is now usually defined in terms of the formula z2 + c, so Mandelbrot's early plots in terms of his parameter ? are left-right mirror images of more recent plots in terms of the parameter c) .

Related Topics:
1979 - Harvard University - Julia set - Complex plane - Gaston Julia - Pierre Fatou - Mandelbrot set

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In 1982 Mandelbrot published an expanded and updated version of his ideas in The Fractal Geometry of Nature. This influential work brought fractals into the mainstream of both professional and popular mathematics.

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On his retirement from IBM in 1987, Mandelbrot joined the faculty of Yale as Sterling Professor of Mathematical Sciences. Mandelbrot was awarded the prestigious Japan Prize in 2003. The asteroid 27500 Mandelbrot was named in his honour.

Related Topics:
1987 - Yale - Japan Prize - Asteroid - 27500 Mandelbrot

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