Mandelbrot, pioneer
of fractals, dies at 85

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Benoit Mandelbrot, 85, the maverick mathematician who developed the innovative fractal theory of roughness and applied it to physics, biology, finance and many other fields, died of pancreatic cancer Thursday in Cambridge, his wife announced. He coined the term "fractal" in the 1970s to refer to a new class of mathematical shapes whose uneven contours could mimic the irregularities found in nature.