Members blue2blue Posted October 16, 2010 Members Share Posted October 16, 2010 CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Benoit Mandelbrot (ben-WAH' MAN'-dul-braht), a well-known mathematician who was largely responsible for developing the field of fractal geometry, has died. He was 85.His wife, Aliette, says he died Thursday of pancreatic cancer. He had lived in Cambridge, Mass.The Polish-born French mathematician founded the field of fractal geometry, the first broad attempt to quantitatively investigate the notion of roughness. He was interested in both the development and application of fractals, which he also showed could be used elsewhere in nature.For years, he worked for IBM in New York. Later he became Sterling Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Sciences at Yale University.Mandelbrot also received honorary doctorates and served on boards of scientific journals.He is survived by his wife, two sons and three grandchildren.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/16/AR2010101602227.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lsits Posted October 16, 2010 Members Share Posted October 16, 2010 Very sad. I had never heard of him or was even interested in mathematics, but I saw a NOVA program about fractal geometry a couple of years ago. It was very informative. I can honestly say that Mr. Mandelbrot got me looking at the world from a different perspective. He literally bridged the gap between art and science. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rjt Posted October 17, 2010 Members Share Posted October 17, 2010 What a great mind. Talk about "thinking outside the box." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 17, 2010 Author Members Share Posted October 17, 2010 Yeah... I think his revelations do show us knew ways of looking at the world and the myriad of patterns (and I mean that in the very broadest sense) we see around us but hadn't been able to really make sense of or understand the unifying processes by which those patterns emerge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted October 18, 2010 Members Share Posted October 18, 2010 Great mind... great discovery. Fractal math... string theory... metaphysics... its all leading to the same thing... we are slowly putting it together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted October 18, 2010 Moderators Share Posted October 18, 2010 One of the true overlooked geniuses of the last century. Very sad to hear this, but his legacy will live on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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