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Michał Heller: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As Michal Kazimierz Heller
Born March 12, 1936 (age 90) • Tarnów • Poland
Awards And Honors Templeton Prize (2008)

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Michał Heller
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Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno
Italian philosopher
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Sir Hermann Bondi
British scientist
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Edward Arthur Milne
British astrophysicist
Martin Rees
Martin Rees
British cosmologist and astrophysicist
French philosopher Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal
French philosopher and scientist
Sylvester II, detail from the ivory vessel used at the consecration of Otto III, 996; in the Domschatzkammer des Aachener Domes, Aachen, Ger.
Sylvester II
pope
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Stanisław Leśniewski
Polish logician and mathematician
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Nicholas Oresme
French bishop, scholar, and economist
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Nicholas Of Cusa
cardinal, scientist, scholar, and philosopher
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Stanislaw Ulam
American scientist
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Stefan Banach
Polish mathematician
Mandelbrot setDuring the late 20th century, Polish mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot helped popularize the fractal that bears his name. The fundamental set contains all complex numbers C such that the iterative equation Zn + 1 = Zn2 + C stays finite for all n starting with Z0 = 0. As shown here, the set of points that remain finite through all iterations is white, with darker colours showing how quickly other values diverge to infinity. The fractal edge between points that remain finite and those that diverge to infinity is extremely complicated, with self-repeating features that can be seen at all scales.
Benoit Mandelbrot
Polish-born French American mathematician
Sierpiński gasketPolish mathematician Wacław Sierpiński described the fractal that bears his name in 1915, although the design as an art motif dates at least to 13th-century Italy. Begin with a solid equilateral triangle, and remove the triangle formed by connecting the midpoints of each side. The midpoints of the sides of the resulting three internal triangles are connected to form three new triangles that are then removed to form nine smaller internal triangles. The process of cutting away triangular pieces continues indefinitely, producing a region with a Hausdorf dimension of a bit more than 1.5 (indicating that it is more than a one-dimensional figure but less than a two-dimensional figure).
Wacław Sierpiński
Polish mathematician
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Jacob Bronowski
British mathematician
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Li Zhizao
Chinese mathematician and astronomer
Neyman, Jerzy
Jerzy Neyman
Polish mathematician and statistician
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Thomas Bradwardine
archbishop of Canterbury
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Alfred Tarski
American mathematician and logician
Mother Teresa of Calcutta wearing her white sari with blue stripes, shown in profile at the World Conference of the International Women's Year in Mexico City, 1975.
Mother Teresa
Roman Catholic nun
Tomáš Halik
Tomáš Halik
Czech Roman Catholic priest and sociologist

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