Mandelbrot, father of fractals, dies at 85

Benoit Mandelbrot, the Polish-born mathematician who played a central role in Chaos theory, has died at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, aged 85, of cancer.

He is most famous for his work on fractals – rough geometric features which repeat at different scales. The IBM scientist said he got the idea for his much reproduced Mandelbrot set while considering how to measure the British coastline, which becomes ever longer as you look at it in closer detail.