R.I.P., Benoit Mandelbrot

[Ragnarok]

:(
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/science-obituaries/8069558/Benoit-Mandelbrot.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beno%C3%AEt_Mandelbrot

"Benoit Mandelbrot, who died on October 14 aged 85, was largely responsible for developing the discipline of fractal geometry – the study of rough or fragmented geometric shapes or processes that have similar properties at all levels of magnification or across all times."

...the implications of which are mind-boggling.

I have his book, "The Fractal Geometry of Nature", and it is a real eye-and mind-opener (at least the parts I understand!)

Thank you, Benoit, for investigating and sharing the mathematical foundations of the universe with us.

R.

[Gaillo]

Too bad!

I remember back when I was learning how to program computers that one of the things I wanted to do was write a fractal visualization program. I chose the Mandlebrot set as the fractal of choice for my program, since it had the most widely available literature. I wrote the program on a Commodore 64 computer, it took me several weeks to write it and get it "tweaked" to the point you could do zooms in and out (using keyboard keys to define a "box" on the currently viewed image). Even though the program took almost an hour to "draw" each view, and only had 16 colors, I spent the next month or two on that machine just zooming around and checking it out! Truly fascinating!

[Libertarian_Guard]

Too bad!

I remember back when I was learning how to program computers that one of the things I wanted to do was write a fractal visualization program. I chose the Mandlebrot set as the fractal of choice for my program, since it had the most widely available literature. I wrote the program on a Commodore 64 computer, it took me several weeks to write it and get it "tweaked" to the point you could do zooms in and out (using keyboard keys to define a "box" on the currently viewed image). Even though the program took almost an hour to "draw" each view, and only had 16 colors, I spent the next month or two on that machine just zooming around and checking it out! Truly fascinating!


Gallo

Let me guess, this happened back in 1987?

[Gaillo]

Too bad!

I remember back when I was learning how to program computers that one of the things I wanted to do was write a fractal visualization program. I chose the Mandlebrot set as the fractal of choice for my program, since it had the most widely available literature. I wrote the program on a Commodore 64 computer, it took me several weeks to write it and get it "tweaked" to the point you could do zooms in and out (using keyboard keys to define a "box" on the currently viewed image). Even though the program took almost an hour to "draw" each view, and only had 16 colors, I spent the next month or two on that machine just zooming around and checking it out! Truly fascinating!


Gallo

Let me guess, this happened back in 1987?


You're pretty close, give or take a few years. What tipped you off... the Commodore 64 reference? ;D

[Libertarian_Guard]

Too bad!

I remember back when I was learning how to program computers that one of the things I wanted to do was write a fractal visualization program. I chose the Mandlebrot set as the fractal of choice for my program, since it had the most widely available literature. I wrote the program on a Commodore 64 computer, it took me several weeks to write it and get it "tweaked" to the point you could do zooms in and out (using keyboard keys to define a "box" on the currently viewed image). Even though the program took almost an hour to "draw" each view, and only had 16 colors, I spent the next month or two on that machine just zooming around and checking it out! Truly fascinating!


Gallo

Let me guess, this happened back in 1987?


You're pretty close, give or take a few years. What tipped you off... the Commodore 64 reference? ;D


Yes.

I never owned a Commodore, but a good friend of mine did. He wanted me to buy one, but from his demonstrations, I didn't see what was worthwile about it. Little did I know.

[Dogman]

Wasn't it around 1987 give or take a year ago that a shareware 5" 1/4 floppy came out with the Mandelbrot fractal program? That was when Mandelbrot showed up on my radar screen. It was amazing at the time you could zoom in and everything would just repeat. The good old days of cga/vga.