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Mandelbrot (Benoit) papers
M1857
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Table of contents
Description
The papers document the life and work of Benoit B. Mandelbrot, mathematician and pioneer of fractal geometry. The collection
contains correspondence, research data, drafts and publications, administrative records, teaching material, photographs, artwork,
audiovisual material, and computer media relating to Mandelbrot's education, professional career, and work in several organizations,
principally at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center and Yale University.
Background
Benoit B. Mandelbrot was born in 1924 to a Lithuanian Jewish family in Warsaw, Poland. In 1936, the family fled the Nazis,
moving first to Paris and then to southern France. After the war, Mandelbrot continued his studies at the École Polytechnique
in Paris and then in the United States at the California Institute of Technology. He returned to France and completed a Ph.D.
in Mathematics at the University of Paris in 1952. Mandelbrot spent most of his professional research career at IBM's Thomas
J. Watson Research Center, beginning in 1958; with his appointment as an IBM Fellow in 1974, he was free to follow his personal
inclination towards interdisciplinary research founded on applied mathematics.
Extent
413 Linear Feet
(396 manuscript boxes; 4 half boxes; 79 cartons; 48 flat boxes; 1 card box; 10 map folders; 1 map tube)
Restrictions
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94305-6064. Consent
is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-collections/permission-publish.
Availability
The collection is open for research except materials in Series 28: Restricted Material (boxes 327, 328, 329, 330, 495, 496).
Restricted materials are closed until January 1, 2045.