Article

2010-10-16 Science & Technology

Father of fractals, Benoit Mandelbrot, dead

BENOIT Mandelbrot, a French-American mathematician who explored a new class of mathematical shapes known as "fractals", has died aged 85.

His wife Aliette told the New York Times today he died of pancreatic cancer at a hospice in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday.

His seminal book, The Fractal Geometry of Nature, published in 1982, argued that irregular mathematical objects once dismissed as "pathological" were a reflection of nature.

The fractal geometry he developed would be used to measure natural phenomena like clouds or coastlines that once were believed to be unmeasurable.

He applied the theory to physics, biology, finance and many other fields of study.

"Fractals are easy to explain, it's like a romanesco cauliflower, which is to say that each small part of it is exactly the same as the entire cauliflower itself," Catherine Hill, a statistician at the Gustave Roussy Institute, said.

"It's a curve that reproduces itself to infinity. Every time you zoom in further, you find the same curve," she said.

David Mumford, a professor of mathematics at Brown University, told the Times that Mandelbrot had effectively revolutionised his field.

Posted by tipper 2010-10-16 18:25|| || Front Page|| [11131 views ] Top

#1 Don't know how many physics buffs we have on the burg, know there's a few though. His passing should be equated with that of Pascal or Bernoulli. I'm sure he will take his place among the great names of science.

Posted by bigjim-CA 2010-10-16 22:30|| 2010-10-16 22:30|| Front Page Top

#2 bigjim, we've got a couple of actual physicists, too. James hasn't spoken up in a while, but he's a real live physics professor, and g(r)omgoru is a practicing physicist.

Posted by trailing wife 2010-10-16 23:51|| 2010-10-16 23:51|| Front Page Top

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