The Polish-born French-American mathematician Benoit B. Mandelbrot (born 1924) is the inventor of fractals. Fractal geometry has been described as one of the major developments of 20th-century mathematics. He calls himself "a physicist also, and an economist, and an artist of sorts, and...."

Benoit Mandelbrot was born in Warsaw, Poland, on November 20, 1924. He described his father (1883-1952) as "a very scholarly person, and the descendant of long lines of scholars. In fact, it often seemed everyone in the family was--or was expected to become--a scholar of some kind, at least part-time. Unfortunately, many were starving scholars, and my father--being a practical man--saw virtues in a good steady job." So Mandelbrot manufactured and sold clothing. He helped raise his youngest (by 16 years) brother, Szolem Mandelbrot, who later also became a famous mathematician. His mother was a doctor. Afraid of epidemics, she tried to keep him out of school. His uncle...