Benoit Mandelbrot, creator for fractals, dead at 85

[BaalChatzaf]

Benoit Mandelbrot, the man who ushered in the latest era of fractals has died at 85. He is best known for being the creator of his iconic Mandelbrot Set which shows a repetition of structure at every length scale.

He was a mathematical genius of the first order and his works in fractals and the related field of chaotic dynamics will be his memorial.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[DavidMcK]

The Mandelbrot fractal is my screen saver on my Linux operating system, his work will probably inspire a great deal of self-similarity.

[kiaer.ts]

[kiaer.ts]

I hope you like this better, Brant.

[9thdoctor]

There’s a neat documentary on Mandelbrot. Trippy music and visuals. Sounds like Pink Floyd.

[Brant Gaede]

Fascinating.

--Brant

[mfgreaves]

Mandelbrot's greatest contribution to human knowledge was his demonstration of how great complexity can emerge from simple rules. I sometimes fear that most laymen do not get this, and are merely taken with the "trippy" imagery. The most striking example of this principle at work in nature is the human brain. The amount of digital data in our DNA, that holds all of the rules for the construction of our brains, is tiny compared to the complexity of the result. The mathematics of fractals is involved in this amazing translation.

Ultimately this kind of emergent complexity is a powerful point in any scientific refutation of the need for a Creator. The primitive idea that anything that could have given rise to us, must be greater than us, is precisely backwards. In nature, complexity arises from the mud and ascends to the heavens; not the other way around.

Mike

[BaalChatzaf]

Mandelbrot's greatest contribution to human knowledge was his demonstration of how great complexity can emerge from simple rules. I sometimes fear that most laymen do not get this, and are merely taken with the "trippy" imagery. The most striking example of this principle at work in nature is the human brain. The amount of digital data in our DNA, that holds all of the rules for the construction of our brains, is tiny compared to the complexity of the result. The mathematics of fractals is involved in this amazing translation.

Ultimately this kind of emergent complexity is a powerful point in any scientific refutation of the need for a Creator. The primitive idea that anything that could have given rise to us, must be greater than us, is precisely backwards. In nature, complexity arises from the mud and ascends to the heavens; not the other way around.

Mike

A good observation. One example of emergence of complexity from simplicity is flock and schooling behavior in birds and fish. I have seen analysis of flocking that is derived from less than a half dozen simple rules. What is fascinating about fractals is that the structure replicates (or nearly replicates) at ALL scales of size. That is remarkable.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Brant Gaede]

I hope you like this better, Brant.

My actual objection was only to a moving avatar. I found it distracting. Anyway, I learned something.

--Brant

Edited October 18, 2010 by Brant Gaede