Benoit Mandelbrot

See also: Mandelbrot set

Benoit Mandelbrot
Mandelbrot at a TED conference in 2010
Born(1924-11-20)20 November 1924
Warsaw, Poland
Died14 October 2010(2010-10-14) (aged 85)
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Nationality
  • French
  • American
  • Polish
Alma materÉcole Polytechnique
California Institute of Technology
University of Paris
Known for
Spouse(s)
Aliette Kagan (1932–2023)
(m. 1955–2010; his death)
Awards
Légion d'honneur
(Chevalier 1990 · Officier 2006)

2003  Japan Prize
1993  Wolf Prize
1989  Harvey Prize
1986  Franklin Medal
1985  Barnard Medal
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Doctoral advisorPaul Lévy
Doctoral students

Benoit B. Mandelbrot[a][b] (20 November 1924 – 14 October 2010) was a Polish-born French-American mathematician and polymath with broad interests in the practical sciences, especially regarding what he labeled as "the art of roughness" of physical phenomena and "the uncontrolled element in life".[6][7][8] He referred to himself as a "fractalist"[9] and is recognized for his contribution to the field of fractal geometry, which included coining the word "fractal", as well as developing a theory of "roughness and self-similarity" in nature.[10]

In 1936, at the age of 11, Mandelbrot and his family emigrated from Warsaw, Poland, to France. After World War II ended, Mandelbrot studied mathematics, graduating from universities in Paris and in the United States and receiving a master's degree in aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology. He spent most of his career in both the United States and France, having dual French and American citizenship. In 1958, he began a 35-year career at IBM, where he became an IBM Fellow, and periodically took leaves of absence to teach at Harvard University. At Harvard, following the publication of his study of U.S. commodity markets in relation to cotton futures, he taught economics and applied sciences.

Because of his access to IBM's computers, Mandelbrot was one of the first to use computer graphics to create and display fractal geometric images, leading to his discovery of the Mandelbrot set in 1980. He showed how visual complexity can be created from simple rules. He said that things typically considered to be "rough", a "mess", or "chaotic", such as clouds or shorelines, actually had a "degree of order".[11] His math- and geometry-centered research included contributions to such fields as statistical physics, meteorology, hydrology, geomorphology, anatomy, taxonomy, neurology, linguistics, information technology, computer graphics, economics, geology, medicine, physical cosmology, engineering, chaos theory, econophysics, metallurgy, and the social sciences.[12]

Toward the end of his career, he was Sterling Professor of Mathematical Sciences at Yale University, where he was the oldest professor in Yale's history to receive tenure.[13] Mandelbrot also held positions at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Université Lille Nord de France, Institute for Advanced Study and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. During his career, he received over 15 honorary doctorates and served on many science journals, along with winning numerous awards. His autobiography, The Fractalist: Memoir of a Scientific Maverick, was published posthumously in 2012.

  1. ^ Hoffman, Jascha (16 October 2010). "Benoît Mandelbrot, Mathematician, Dies at 85". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 18 October 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  2. ^ Lesmoir-Gordon, Nigel (17 October 2010). "Benoît Mandelbrot obituary". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 17 September 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  3. ^ "Mandelbrot". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  4. ^ Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
  5. ^ Recording of the ceremony on 11 September 2006 at which Mandelbrot received the insignia for an Officer of the Légion d'honneur.
  6. ^ "Remembering the Father of Fractals". 22 October 2010. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  7. ^ Mandelbrot, Benoit (February 2010), "Fractals and the art of roughness", TED.com, archived from the original on 14 April 2016
  8. ^ Hudson & Mandelbrot, Prelude, page xviii
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference maverick was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Gomory, R. (2010). "Benoît Mandelbrot (1924–2010)". Nature. 468 (7322): 378. Bibcode:2010Natur.468..378G. doi:10.1038/468378a. PMID 21085164. S2CID 4393964.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Wolfram was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ list includes specific sciences mentioned in Hudson & Mandelbrot, the Prelude, p. xvi, and p. 26
  13. ^ Olson, Steve (November–December 2004). "The Genius of the Unpredictable". Yale Alumni Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2014.


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