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kottke.org posts about Benoit Mandelbrot

Short Errol Morris film on Benoit Mandelbrot

A short time before his death, Benoît B. Mandelbrot filmed an interview with Errol Morris. Morris charmingly starts off my asking Mandelbrot where “the fractal stuff” came from.

Note: as always, the “B.” in “Benoît B. Mandelbrot” stands for “Benoît B. Mandelbrot”. (via @sampotts)


Fractal Mondrian

If Mandelbrot and Mondrian had a baby, it might look a little something like this:

Fractal Mondrian

Awesome. There’s also a zoomable version but not a very deep one…would be nice to have an infinitely zoomable version in Processing or something.


Benoit Mandelbrot, RIP

Nothing in the news media yet, but many folks on Twitter and colleague Nassim Taleb are reporting that the father of fractal geometry is dead at age 85. We’re not there yet, but someday Mandelbrot’s name will be mentioned in the same breath as Einstein’s as a genius who fundamentally shifted our perception of how the world works.

Update: The NY Times has confirmation from Mandelbrot’s family. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer.