Today is Benoît Mandelbrot’s 80th birthday. From an interview with New Scientist:
Few people would recognise Benoit Mandelbrot in the street, but the intricate pattern of blobs, swirls and spikes that bears his name – the Mandelbrot set – is an icon of science. It has come to symbolise the geometry of fractals, patterns whose shape stays the same whatever scale you view them on. His life has followed a path as jagged as any fractal. Next week he turns 80. He tells Valerie Jamieson that he still has plenty of work to do
The occasion made me want to learn more about Benoît and computing the Mandelbrot Set.