Mandelbrot, Benoit B.
American Geometer
1924–
Benoit B. Mandelbrot, called the father of fractal geometry, was born November 20, 1924, in Warsaw, Poland, into a well-educated Jewish family. In 1936 the family moved to France where Benoit spent time with his uncle, Szolem Mandelbrojt, who was a professor of mathematics at the prestigious Collège de France in Paris, and who took an interest in Benoit's education.
Szolem Mandelbrojt recommended that Benoit study the work of Gaston Julia, whose 1918 paper was considered a mathematical masterpiece and a source of good problems. At the time, Benoit expressed little interest for the kind of mathematics that he found in Julia's paper, much to the dismay of his uncle, but instead showed an interest in geometry. In 1944 Benoit was accepted into the Ecole Polytechnique and studied under the direction of Paul Lévy, who embraced Mandelbrot's interest in geometry.
In 1952 Mandelbrot received his Ph.D. (Docteur ès Sciences Mathématiques) from the University of Paris. After completing his degree, Mandelbrot went to the United States, where he held a position at the School of Mathematics at the Institute for the Advanced Studies (under J. von Neumann) at Princeton University. He returned to France in 1955, at which time he married Ailette Kagan.
Discontented with the style of mathematics work in France at the time, Mandelbrot returned to the United States in 1958 to accept a position as a fellow and professor in the research department at the world-famous laboratories of International Business Machines (IBM) in New York. IBM was beginning to lead the computer industry, and the company provided Mandelbrot with the freedom and resources to pursue his research interests.
Chaos and Fractals
During the 1970s, Mandelbrot's research examined unusual or chaotic patterns of behavior in geometric shapes. In 1975 Mandelbrot coined the term "fractal," from the Latin fractus (meaning fragmented, irregular), as a way to describe the self-similar geometric patterns he had discovered. In addition, Mandelbrot revisited Julia's earlier work and, with the aid of computer graphics, illustrated Julia's work as a source of some of the most beautiful fractal images known today. His work was first published in English in his book Fractals: Form, Chance, and Dimension (1977).
The connection between chaos and geometry was further established with Mandelbrot's discovery in 1980 of what we have come to call the Mandelbrot Set. Named in his honor, it is certainly the most popular fractal and is often noted as the most popular object of contemporary mathematics. In addition, Mandelbrot had discovered fractal geometry and chaotic behavior in many aspects of nature. In his most recognized book, The Fractal Geometry of Nature (1982), Mandelbrot demonstrated that mathematical fractals have many features in common with shapes found in nature, such as snowflakes, mountains, ferns, and coastlines.
Honors and Achievements
Throughout his career, Mandelbrot has held many academic positions. In addition to being a Fellow of the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he held appointments as professor of the practice of mathematics and economics at Harvard University; professor of engineering at Yale University; and professor of physiology at the Einstein College of Medicine. He is recognized for his many remarkable achievements, prizes, and honors in the fields of mathematics, physics, engineering, and medicine, including the Barnard Medal for Meritorious Service to Science (1985), the Franklin Medal (1986), the Alexander von Humboldt Prize (1987), the Steinmetz Medal (1988), the Nevada Medal (1991), and the Wolf prize for physics (1993). On June 23, 1999, Mandelbrot received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from the University of St Andrews.
Bibliography
Hall, Nina. Exploring Chaos: A Guide to the New Science of Disorder. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993.
Henderson, Harry. "Benoit Mandelbrot." In Modern Mathematicians. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1996.
Mandelbrot, Benoit B. The Fractal Geometry of Nature. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1982.
———. Fractals: Form, Chance, and Dimension. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1977.
Internet Resources
"Benoit Mandelbrot." School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences. University of St Andrews. <http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Mandelbrot.html>.
"Gaston Maurice Julia." School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences. University of St Andrews. <http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Julia.html>.
