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Interview With Math Legend Benoit Mandelbrot

Posted by timothy on from the strange-bread-loops dept.

Vertigo01 writes "New Scientist is currently featuring an interview with Benoit Mandelbrot the father of the Mandelbrot set, and the man who discovered fractals. 'What motivates me now are ideas I developed 10, 20 or 30 years ago, and the feeling that these ideas may be lost if I don't push them a little bit further.'"

4 of 286 comments (clear)

  1. Discovered fractals? by Superfreaker · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Mandelbrot fractal sets are cool, but I think the first fractal discovered should be considered phi, aka the Golden Ratio. It may not be derived from the same mathmatics, but the end result is the same...

  2. Seeing it by wombatmobile · · Score: 4, Interesting

    New Scientist: How did you feel when you discovered it?

    Mandelbrot: Its astounding complication was completely out of proportion with what I was expecting. Here is the curious thing: the first night I saw the set, it was just wild. The second night, I became used to it. After a few nights, I became familiar with it.

    I wonder what he means by "saw" it.

    What graphics computers were popular in the 1940's?

  3. A simple equation... by badfrog · · Score: 4, Interesting
    It is so simple that most children can program their home computers to produce the Mandelbrot set.
    That's exactly what I did when I was about 12, on my Tandy Color Computer 3. Took about 24 hours to make one ~320x190 screen.
  4. Re:Tried to read it by qwijibo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I remember typing that program in from one of the Antic magazines. Those were the good ol days. Between 1-2 days to generate each picture. Now we can do it in a matter of seconds on the average PC. Takes all the pride of accomplishment out of it when it's that simple.