Benoit Mandelbrot, the mathematician who discovered fractals, died recently. While its true that I don't really like math - I do love fractals. It probably has to do with the fact that they are such an amazing natural phenomenon. Francis was explaining fractals to me in terms of geology recently, but the main idea is that some things in nature (rocks, vegetables, etc) have an essential structure that always remains the same. So, it will be the same shape no matter how many times it is divided. Probably one of the most well known fractals is cauliflower - try breaking it apart into little pieces and you will see what I mean, it always looks the same, even when its really small.
From the BBC:
Fractal mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot dies aged 85
Pictures of Fractals
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