Benoît B. Mandelbrot was a French and American mathematician-scientist most widely recognized as being the pioneer of fractal geometry. Mandelbrot was born on 20 November 1924 in Warsaw, Poland. Mandelbrot came from a family of Lithuanian Jews where his mother was a dental surgeon and his father was a salesman of clothes. In 1936, at the age of twelve, his family emigrated from Poland and settled in Paris, France. It was in Paris that Mandelbrot would be introduced to mathematics by the Parisian mathematician, and his uncle, Scholem Mandelbrojt. During the German occupation of France during World War II, Mandelbrot and his family fled to the town of Tulle, France to avoid Jewish persecution. Mandelbrot recalls this period of his life as …show more content…
He worked at International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) for over thirty-five years where he would eventually be awarded the honor of IBM Fellow. (Benoît Mandelbrot, Wikipedia) It was at IBM that Mandelbrot came up with the idea of using the computer technology that was available to graph his mathematical work that he would become famous for. Upon his departure from IBM, he became a professor of mathematics at Yale University. In 1999, at the age of 75, he became the oldest professor to receive tenure at Yale University. (Benoît Mandelbrot, MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive) Mandelbrot also received many other honors including an appointment at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where he was appointed as a Battelle Fellow. (Benoît Mandelbrot, Wikipedia) Mandelbrot was heavily criticized early on his career by the mathematical community as being an imbecile for his theories because “Mandelbrot rejected traditional Euclidean geometry for his work with fractals because they could not describe irregularly shaped forms.” (Davis, Profile of Benoît B. Mandelbrot); Mandelbrot was repeatedly told that “you’re wasting your time” (Davis, Profile of Benoît B. Mandelbrot) by his contemporaries. As time passed the criticism eventually ceased and Mandelbrot was honored accordingly. Mandelbrot’s most notable contribution consists of introducing the concept of ‘roughness’ to mathematics through his mathematical work The Fractal Geometry of Nature, which was: “… a revised and enlarged version of his 1977 book entitled Fractals: Form, Chance and Dimension, which in turn was a revised, enlarged, and translated version of his 1975 French book, Les Objects Fractals: Forme, Hasard et Dimension. The books together comprise one of the ten most influential scientific essays of the 20th century.” (The Fractal Geometry of Nature,
Pedro Nune's had many contributions to mathematics but he is best known for his contribution in the national sciences in navigation and cartography. He was the first person to approach it in a mathematical way. He was the person who invented the idea called the loxo drome. he was also the inventor of several measuring devices, called nonius from which the vernier scale was derived.
He was a hard working student, but not the best. He received a doctorate degree in 1847. He also spent lots of time related to research on tartrate acid. He found different ways to kill many different germs. He found cures for rabies and anthrax and found a way to pasteurize milk. That saved many lives.
Babbage lived a very well life with many opportunities. According to Biography.com Editors, “Babbage was born on December 26, 1791, in London, England.” He came from a family of wealth and leisure. Babbage went to a great school and had great determination towards math, his mathematics professors actually knew less than he did. In 1810, he was accepted to Trinity College, Cambridge, he then later transferred to Peterhouse, Cambridge where he received an honorary degree in mathematics.He later became an English mathematician, philosopher, and inventor. In 1812, Babbage helped found the Analytical Society, whose object was to introduce developments from the European continents into English mathematics. During 1816, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London, he was instrumental in founding the Royal Astronomical (1820) and statistical (1834) societies. In 1791- 1871 he developed the Analytical Engine project after an earlier computing project, the Difference Engine, that Babbage started in 1822. Babbage started designing his Analytical Engine in 1833 and continued to tinker until the day he died. As with the Difference Engine, he was unable to build a working prototype, there was much reason why he
accomplishments in math shaped what we learn in classrooms today. Alexis’s early life was one of intimidation to students now. He was born in Paris, France to Jean and Catherine Clairaut. According to encyclopedia.com, Clairaut’s father was a mathematics
Alan Turing was a mathematical genius and inspirational visionary, famous today for his code-breaking work during World War II that saved the allies from the Nazis. His study of mathematical logic eventually led to the birth of the field of computer science. Although Alan Turing undeniably changed the world for the better during a time when the world was at great risk, his academic work was not purposely responding to concerns of the day. His inspiration was a
Gregor Mendel was born Johann Mendel on July 22 in 1822. He did not grow up in a predominate family, nor home. His parents were poor farmers and although not wealthy, he was incredibly smart and always excelled in school. At age 11 a local schoolmaster was impressed by Mendel’s school work and aptitude for learning. So much in fact that he recommended sending him to a school in Troppau to continue his
Leonardo is a well known mathematician, due to his invention in the math community; Such as the Fibonacci sequence and the Fibonacci Spiral. Leonardo’s country of origin is Italy, where he grew up. Fibonacci made tons of mathematical inventions to improve the world and I’m going to tell you all about Fibonacci.
Archimedes was born in Syracuse, Greece in 287 BC and died in 212 BC. He studied at Alexandria, Egypt which at the time was considered the intellectual hub of the world. It was established by Euclid, another Greek mathematician also known as ‘the Father of Geometry.’ Archimedes later returned to Syracuse after having completed his formal education and spent most of his life in Syracuse, Sicily. Though little is known about his life, his love for pure mathematics and geometry was evident.
René Descartes was a mathematician who lived from March 31 1596-February 11 1650. Descartes was from the commune La Haye in northeastern France. His father was a member of the Parliament of Brittany and René grew up without his mother because she died giving birth to another child who also died. René eventually had one daughter, with a serving woman, named Francine. He passed Francine off as his niece until she died of scarlet fever at five years old.
René Descarte was a mathematician. He was born on March 31,1596 at his maternal grandmother’s house in the town of La Haye in the Touraine.
Throughout my research of mathematicians, I realized that some mathematicians had different backgrounds and were from different time periods. The first mathematician, I will discuss goes by the name of Rene Descartes. First and foremost, according to the eBook, The 100 Most Influential Philosophers of All Time, Descartes came into this world in La Haye, Touraine, France on March 31, 1596. At the age of one his mother died and afterwards his father remarried leaving Descartes in La Haye to be raised by his maternal grandmother and then by his great uncle. During 1606 he got sent off to a Jesuit college. Soon after during 1614 Descartes went to Poitiers, where he pursued a law degree.
Pierre-Simon Laplace was a French mathematician who lived during the most violent time of France’s history. He made extensive contributions to several fields of mathematics and science including statistics, chemistry, and most importantly physics and astronomy. He often used calculus and differential equations to assist in his discoveries. He became a very prominent member in the nation of France during his lifetime, holding many high positions and having close relations with Napoleon Bonaparte during his reign of France. After a lifetime of achievements, Laplace became known as one of the greatest French mathematicians of all time, if not the greatest.
Pierre de Fermat, a french lawyer born in Beaumont- de- Lomagne, France on August 17, 1602 is a person known for his new ideas in the area of calculus. Born into a wealthy family consisting of a father heavily invested in the agriculture business, Fermat received a very good education, and soon became a wealthy attorney in the city of Bordeaux. After marrying
Today we are here to honor the work of my friend Jacob Bernoulli. He was born in December of 1654 in Switzerland. Like many other Bernoulli family members, he became a mathematician, a very notable mathematician. His fame came after his various contributions to calculus, but most prominently, his contribution to the study of probability.
Carl Freidrich Gauss was a German mathematician and a physical scientist also known as the “Prince of Mathematics”. He was born on April 30th, 1777 in Brunswick, Germany and was born to poor, working class parents. His mother was illiterate and his father was a gardener/brick layer. His father did not want Gauss to attend school, he wanted him to stay in the family business; but fortunately for him, his mother and uncle recognized his early talents as