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Benoit Mandelbrot Dies At 85

Posted by Soulskill on from the edges-are-interesting dept.

Beetle B. writes "Benoit Mandelbrot has passed away at the age of 85. I first learned of the Mandelbrot set while reading Arthur C. Clarke's The Ghost From The Grand Banks. Soon after, I got hold of the best fractal generation software of the day — Fractint — and ran it for long periods of time on my XT, exploring the beautiful world that Mandelbrot, among others, had opened up for me. That it was only on a 4-color CGA did not deter me!"

4 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. From his February 2010 TED visit by QuietLagoon · · Score: 4, Informative

    His presentation.

  2. Re:Dead? by BradleyUffner · · Score: 4, Informative

    I didn't know he was still alive. So much for assumptions.

    I only knew he was still alive because of this song.
    http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songdetails/Mandelbrot%20Set

  3. Re:Fractint by paskie · · Score: 4, Informative

    The best I know is GNU XaoS. It can do real-time zooming (it did fine even on my old P133!) and features plenty of settings and fractal equations. I know there are perhaps better programs nowadays that let you easily write custom equations, scripts for 3D fractals and whatnot, but AFAIK none is free and/or supports Linux well.

    --
    It's not the fall that kills you. It's the sudden stop at the end. -Douglas Adams
  4. Re:Dead? by Beorytis · · Score: 3, Informative
    I knew he was still alive because of this TED talk

    .