mandelbrot
May 16, 2013
Benoit Mandelbrot
Born on November 20th, 1924 in Warsaw, Poland, Benoit B. Mandelbrot was a French and American mathematician known for developing the “theory of roughness” in nature as well as fractal geometry to prove his theory. . Mandelbrot asks“Can geometry deliver what the Greek root of its name [geo-] seemed to promise—truthful measurement, not only of cultivated fields along the Nile River but also of untamed Earth?
Mandelbrot’s father bought and sold clothes while his mother was a doctor. But it was his uncles who introduced him to mathematics. One of which was Szolem Mandelbrojt, a professor of mathematics at the College of France. Mandelbrot says of his uncle in his autobiography “The love of his mind was mathematics” . Mandelbrot attended the Lycee Rolin in Paris up to the start of World War II, when his family moved to Tulle in central France. Because of political reasons and the upheaval of the war, Mandelbrot turned away from formal education for a while and began to teach himself. “The war, the constant threat of poverty and the need to survive kept him away from school and college and despite what he recognizes as "marvelous" secondary school teachers he was largely self-taught” . It is for this reason Mandelbrot claims to have had such success in an otherwise unheard of style of geometry.
Mandelbrot traveled to the United States for a visit to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and California Institute of Technology where he earned yet another Masters in aeronautics. Returning once again to France he was awarded a Ph.D. at the University of Paris. It was during this time that he met and eventually married Aliette Kagan and with her returned to the United States. Mandelbrot was unhappy with the style of mathematics in France during that time “Still deeply concerned with the more exotic forms of statistical mechanics and mathematical linguistics and full of non-standard creative ideas he found the huge dominance of
Benoit Mandelbrot
Born on November 20th, 1924 in Warsaw, Poland, Benoit B. Mandelbrot was a French and American mathematician known for developing the “theory of roughness” in nature as well as fractal geometry to prove his theory. . Mandelbrot asks“Can geometry deliver what the Greek root of its name [geo-] seemed to promise—truthful measurement, not only of cultivated fields along the Nile River but also of untamed Earth?
Mandelbrot’s father bought and sold clothes while his mother was a doctor. But it was his uncles who introduced him to mathematics. One of which was Szolem Mandelbrojt, a professor of mathematics at the College of France. Mandelbrot says of his uncle in his autobiography “The love of his mind was mathematics” . Mandelbrot attended the Lycee Rolin in Paris up to the start of World War II, when his family moved to Tulle in central France. Because of political reasons and the upheaval of the war, Mandelbrot turned away from formal education for a while and began to teach himself. “The war, the constant threat of poverty and the need to survive kept him away from school and college and despite what he recognizes as "marvelous" secondary school teachers he was largely self-taught” . It is for this reason Mandelbrot claims to have had such success in an otherwise unheard of style of geometry.
Mandelbrot traveled to the United States for a visit to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and California Institute of Technology where he earned yet another Masters in aeronautics. Returning once again to France he was awarded a Ph.D. at the University of Paris. It was during this time that he met and eventually married Aliette Kagan and with her returned to the United States. Mandelbrot was unhappy with the style of mathematics in France during that time “Still deeply concerned with the more exotic forms of statistical mechanics and mathematical linguistics and full of non-standard creative ideas he found the huge dominance of
Cited: Clark, P. "Presentation of Professor Benoit Mandelbrot for the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science ." St. Andrews, 23 June 1999. Gomory, R. "Benoit Mandelbrot (1924-2010)." Nature (2010): 378. Hoffman, Jascha. "Benoit Mandelbrot, Mathematician, Dies at 85." The New York Times 16 October 2010. Mandelbrot, B. "Comment j 'ai decouvert les fractales." La Recherche (1986): 420-424. Mandelbrot, Benoit. The Fractalist: Memoir of a Scientific Maverick. New York: Pantheon Books, 2012. Wolfram, Stephen. "The Father of Fractals." Wall Street Journal 22 November 2012.