Mandelbrot, Benoit B (1924– )

Polish-born French mathematician who coined the term fractal to describe geometrical figures in which an identical motif repeats itself on an ever-diminishing scale. The concept is associated with chaos theory.

Another way of describing a fractal is as a curve or surface generated by the repeated subdivision of a mathematical pattern.

Mandelbrot was born in Warsaw and studied at the Ecole Polytechnique and the Sorbonne, Paris, and the California Institute of Technology. His academic career was divided mainly between France and the USA. In 1958 he began an association with IBM's research laboratories in New York. In 1987, he became professor at Yale.

Mandelbrot's research has provided mathematical theories for erratic chance phenomena and self-similarity methods in probability. He has also carried out research on sporadic processes, thermodynamics, natural languages, astronomy, geomorphology, computer art and graphics, and the fractal geometry of nature.

His books include Logique, Langage et Théorie de l'Information (with L Apostel and A Morf) (1957), Fractals: Form, Chance and Dimension (1977), and The Fractal Geometry of Nature (1982).