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Benoit Mandelbrot
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{{Short description|French-American mathematician (1924–2010)}} {{See also|Mandelbrot set}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Benoit Mandelbrot | image = Benoit Mandelbrot, TED 2010 (3x4 cropped).jpg | caption = Mandelbrot at a [[TED (conference)|TED conference]] in 2010 | birth_name = Benedykt Mandelbrot | birth_date = {{birth date|1924|11|20|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Warsaw]], [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] | death_date = {{death date and age|2010|10|14|1924|11|20|df=y}} | death_place = [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], U.S. | nationality = {{hlist | French | American | Polish}} | fields = {{hlist | [[Mathematics]] | [[Aerodynamics]]}} | alma_mater = {{br list | [[École Polytechnique]] | {{nowrap|[[California Institute of Technology]]}} | [[University of Paris]]}} | doctoral_advisor = [[Paul Lévy (mathematician)|Paul Lévy]] | doctoral_students = {{hlist |class=nowraplinks |list_style=line-height:1.25em | [[Laurent-Emmanuel Calvet|L. E. Calvet]] | [[Eugene Fama]] | [[Ken Musgrave]] | [[Murad Taqqu]] <!--Red link: | [[Daniel Zajdenweber]]-->}} | known_for = {{hlist |class=nowraplinks |list_style=line-height:1.25em | [[Mandelbrot set]] | [[Chaos theory]] | [[Fractal]]s | [[Zipf–Mandelbrot law]]}} | awards = {{longitem|style=line-height:1.15em;white-space:nowrap |''[[Légion d'honneur]]''<br />{{smaller|(''Chevalier'' 1990{{dot}}''Officier'' 2006)}}}} <br/> {{Br list | 2003 [[Japan Prize]] | 1993 [[Wolf Prize]] | 1989 [[Harvey Prize]] | 1986 [[Franklin Medal]] | 1985 [[Barnard Medal for Meritorious Service to Science|Barnard Medal]]}} | spouse = {{longitem|Aliette Kagan (1932–2023)<br />{{smaller|(m. 1955–2010; his death)}}}} | work_institutions = {{hlist | [[Yale University]] | [[IBM]]}} {{longitem|[[Pacific Northwest National Laboratory]]}} }} '''Benoit B. Mandelbrot'''{{efn|In his autobiography, Mandelbrot did not add a [[circumflex]] to the "i" (i.e. "î") in his first name, as is usual for [[Benoît|the French given name]]. He included "B" as a [[middle initial]]. His ''New York Times'' obituary stated that "he added the middle initial himself, though it does not stand for a middle name",<ref name="nyt_obit">{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/us/17mandelbrot.html |title=Benoît Mandelbrot, Mathematician, Dies at 85 |last=Hoffman |first= Jascha |date=16 October 2010 |work=The New York Times |access-date=16 October 2010 |archive-date=18 October 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101018200532/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/us/17mandelbrot.html |url-status= live }}</ref> an assertion that is supported by his obituary in ''The Guardian''.<ref name= "guardian_obit">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/oct/17/benoit-mandelbrot-obituary |title=Benoît Mandelbrot obituary |last= Lesmoir-Gordon |first= Nigel |date= 17 October 2010 |work= [[The Guardian]] |access-date= 17 October 2010 |location=London |archive-date=17 September 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130917122909/http://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/oct/17/benoit-mandelbrot-obituary |url-status=live }}</ref>|group=n|name=Mandelbrot's_name}}{{efn|Pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|æ|n|d|əl|b|r|ɒ|t}} {{respell|MAN|dəl-brot}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|æ|n|d|əl|b|r|ou|t}} {{respell|MAN|dəl-broht}} in English.<ref>{{OED|Mandelbrot}}</ref><ref>{{Cite LPD|3}}</ref> When speaking in French, Mandelbrot pronounced his name {{IPA|fr|bənwa mɑ̃dɛlbʁot|}}.<ref>Recording of the ceremony on 11 September 2006 at which Mandelbrot received the insignia for an Officer of the [[Legion of Honour|''Légion d'honneur'']].</ref>|group=n}} (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 [[#Fractals and the "theory of roughness"|roughness]]" of physical phenomena and "the uncontrolled element in life".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.insidescience.org/news/remembering-father-fractals |title= Remembering the Father of Fractals |date= 22 October 2010 |access-date=8 January 2018 |archive-date=8 January 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180108174954/https://www.insidescience.org/news/remembering-father-fractals |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{citation| url= https://www.ted.com/talks/benoit_mandelbrot_fractals_the_art_of_roughness?language=en |first= Benoit| last= Mandelbrot| title= Fractals and the art of roughness| website= TED.com| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20160414183649/https://www.ted.com/talks/benoit_mandelbrot_fractals_the_art_of_roughness?language=en |archivedate= 14 April 2016 | date= February 2010| access-date= }}</ref><ref>[[#Hudson|Hudson & Mandelbrot]], Prelude, page xviii</ref> He referred to himself as a "fractalist"<ref name= maverick /> 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.<ref name=nature>{{Cite journal | last1 = Gomory | first1 = R. | author-link1 = Ralph E. Gomory | title = Benoît Mandelbrot (1924–2010) | doi = 10.1038/468378a | journal = Nature | volume = 468 | issue = 7322 | pages = 378 | year = 2010 | pmid = 21085164 |bibcode = 2010Natur.468..378G | s2cid = 4393964 | doi-access = free }}</ref> 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 [[Multiple citizenship|dual]] [[French nationality law|French]] and [[United States nationality law#Dual citizenship|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".<ref name="Wolfram" /> His math- and geometry-centered research included contributions to such fields as [[statistical physics]], [[meteorology]], [[hydrology]], [[geomorphology]], [[anatomy]], [[taxonomy (biology)|taxonomy]], [[neurology]], [[linguistics]], [[information technology]], [[computer graphics]], [[economics]], [[geology]], [[medicine]], [[physical cosmology]], [[engineering]], [[chaos theory]], [[econophysics]], [[metallurgy]], and the [[social science]]s.<ref>list includes specific sciences mentioned in [[#Hudson|Hudson & Mandelbrot]], the Prelude, p. xvi, and p. 26</ref> 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.<ref> {{cite web |first= Steve| last= Olson |url=http://archives.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2004_11/mandelbrot.html |title=The Genius of the Unpredictable |publisher= | work= Yale Alumni Magazine |date=November–December 2004 |access-date=22 July 2014 |author-link=Steve Olson (writer) |archive-date=22 October 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141022092605/http://archives.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2004_11/mandelbrot.html |url-status= live }} </ref> 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.
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