Box 12: Descent into Chaos

Portrait by Bill Tavis:   www.fractalforums.com 

Portrait Description by Bill Tavis:  The father of fractal geometry is "drawn" by the set which he discovered. His beautiful mind is illuminated by a minibrot, while a branch also points to his glowing heart. To his side, we see mountains which are not cones, trees which are not smooth, and clouds which are not spheres. Around his head, an aura of psychedelic fractal colors gives a nod to the fact that an entire art-form was spawned as a result of his explorations.

More than a year in the making, this labor of love is a combination of pencil drawing, digital
painting, photography, and a hand-coded (and heavily modified) Mandelbrot Set rendering. 



The first video gives us some background on Benoit Mandelbrot, his set and Fractal patterns:

The second video takes a more in depth look at the construction of the Mandelbrot Set:

The Amazing Mandelbrot Set 

The only way to fully appreciate the endless depth and fantastic detail of the Mandelbrot Set is to zoom in on it in a mind bending video that uses almost 17 million iterations:

Eye of the Universe - Mandelbrot Fractal Zoom

Even a reverse zoom in black and white is quite mesmerizing:

Black and White - Mandelbrot Fractal Zoom (4k 60fps)

 A great documentary that takes its lead from the poet and artist William Blake:

 

Fractals: a world in a grain of sand 

Ben Weiss | TEDxVeniceBeach

And so Chaos Theory was developed and continues to find new and exciting applications:

PBS:  Chaos Theory

A fascinating look at some paths that led to Chaos:

How Was Chaos Theory Discovered?