Message-Id: <200111072320.SAA23743@silicon.mit.edu>
To: nutso-flaming-pikans@MIT.EDU
Subject: mandlebrot
Date: Wed, 07 Nov 2001 18:20:55 -0500
From: Rikky Muller <rikky@MIT.EDU>

this is cool.
hear it from the man himself.
Rikky


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Subject: Mandelbrot!  "Roughness and Beauty" 11/27 4 PM, 54-100
Reply-to: anneh@eecs.mit.edu
Date: Wed, 07 Nov 2001 18:06:26 -0500

Professor Benoit B. Mandelbrot
Sterling Professor of Mathematical Sciences, Yale University
IBM Fellow (Emeritus)

November 27, 2001 @4:00pm
Location: MIT Campus, Room 54-100

Title: Fractals in Science, Engineering and Finance (Roughness and Beauty)

Benoit B. Mandelbrot is Sterling Professor of Mathematical Sciences 
at Yale University and IBM Fellow (Emeritus) at the IBM T.J. Watson 
Research Center. Best known as the founder of fractal geometry and 
author of Les Objets Fractals, and The Fractal Geometry of Nature, he 
is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Member 
of the US National Academy of Sciences as well as a Membre Titulaire 
de l'Academie Europenne des Sciences, des Arts et des Lettres.

He graduated from the Paris =C9cole Polytechnique and holds an M.S. 
and Ae.E. from California Institute of Technology and a doctorate 
from the University of Paris. He has received numerous honorary 
doctorates from universities around the world. His awards include the 
1993 Wolf Prize for physics, the Barnard, Franklin and Steinmetz 
medals, and the Harvey, Humboldt and Honda prizes.

Dr. Mandelbrot's research seeks a measure of order in physical, 
mathematical or social phenomena that are characterized by abundant 
data but extreme variability. He has studied such apparently 
unrelated topics as fluctuations in commodity prices, the length of 
the coastline of Britain, noise in telephone lines, and linguistics.

Abstract of Talk: Roughness is ubiquitous and a major sensory input 
of Man. The first step to measure and simulate it was provided by 
fractal geometry. Illustrative examples will be drawn from the 
sciences,  engineering (the internet) and (more extensively) the 
variation of financial prices. The beauty of fractals, an 
unanticipated "premium," helps in teaching and bridges some chasms 
between different aspects of knowing and feeling.

For more information contact LeaAnn Maupin, Manager of Conference and
Special Events, maupin@ocr.mit.edu or call (617) 258-9419.


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