Mandelbrot, Benoit B.

Mandelbrot, Benoit B. (bunwä' măn'dulbrō", Fr. mäNdelbrô') [key], 1924–, French mathematician, b. Warsaw, Poland. Largely self-taught and considered a maverick in the field of mathematics, he is uncomfortable with the rigorously pure logical analysis prescribed by Nicolas Bourbaki and relies instead on his talent for visualizing natural phenomena. A pioneer of chaos theory, he conceived, developed, and applied fractal geometry, which is used to find order in apparently erratic shapes and processes.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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