today.nukz.net: Almanac November 20 :: Benoît B. Mandelbrot

Benoît B. Mandelbrot (20 November 1924 – 14 October 2010) was a French American mathematician. Born in Poland, he moved to France with his family when he was a child. Mandelbrot spent much of his life living and working in the United States, and he acquired dual French and American citizenship.

Mandelbrot worked on a wide range of mathematical problems, including mathematical physics and quantitative finance, but is best known as the popularizer of fractal geometry. He coined the term fractal and described the Mandelbrot set. Mandelbrot also wrote books and gave lectures aimed at the general public

Events

284 – Diocletian is chosen as Roman Emperor.
762 – During An Shi Rebellion, Tang Dynasty, with the help of Huihe tribe, recaptured Luoyang from the rebels.
1194 – Palermo is conquered by Emperor Henry VI.
1407 – A truce between John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans is agreed under the auspices of John, Duke of Berry. Orléans would be assassinated three days later by Burgundy.
1695 – Zumbi, the last of the leaders of Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil, is executed by the forces of Portuguese bandeirante Domingos Jorge Velho.
1739 – Start of the Battle of Porto Bello between British and Spanish forces during the War of Jenkins' Ear.
1789 – New Jersey becomes the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
1820 – An 80-ton sperm whale attacks the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America (Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick is in part inspired by this story).
1845 – Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata: Battle of Vuelta de Obligado.
1861 – American Civil War: Secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky's Confederate government.
1910 – Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero issues the Plan de San Luis Potosi, denouncing President Porfirio Díaz, calling for a revolution to overthrow the government of Mexico, effectively starting the Mexican Revolution.
1917 – World War I: Battle of Cambrai begins – British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are later pushed back.
1917 – Ukraine is declared a republic.
1923 – Rentenmark replaces the Papiermark as the official currency of Germany at the exchange rate of one Rentenmark to One Trillion (One Billion on the long scale) Papiermark
1936 – José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange, is killed by a republican execution squad.
1940 – World War II: Hungary becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis Powers.
1943 – World War II: Battle of Tarawa (Operation Galvanic) begins – United States Marines land on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands and suffer heavy fire from Japanese shore guns and machine guns.
1945 – Nuremberg Trials: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg.
1947 – The Princess Elizabeth marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, who becomes the Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey in London.
1952 – Slánský trials – a series of Stalinist and anti-Semitic show trials in Czechoslovakia.
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis ends: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation.
1969 – Vietnam War: The Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
1969 – Occupation of Alcatraz: Native American activists seize control of Alcatraz Island until being ousted by the U.S. Government on June 11, 1971.
1974 – The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T Corporation. This suit later leads to the breakup of AT&T and its Bell System.
1977 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.
1979 – Grand Mosque Seizure: About 200 Sunni Muslims revolt in Saudi Arabia at the site of the Kaaba in Mecca during the pilgrimage and take about 6000 hostages. The Saudi government receives help from French special forces to put down the uprising.
1980 – Lake Peigneur drains into an underlying salt deposit. A misplaced Texaco oil probe had been drilled into the Diamond Crystal Salt Mine, causing water to flow down into the mine, eroding the edges of the hole. The resulting whirlpool sucked the drilling platform, several barges, houses and trees thousands of feet down to the bottom of the dissolving salt deposit.
1982 – The General Union of Ecuadorian Workers (UGTE) is founded.
1985 – Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released.
1989 – Velvet Revolution: The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.
1991 – An Azerbaijani MI-8 helicopter carrying 19 peacekeeping mission team with officials and journalists from Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan is shot down by Armenian military forces in Khojavend district of Azerbaijan.
1992 – In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage.
1993 – Savings and loan crisis: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his "dealings" with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating.
1994 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol in Zambia, ending 19 years of civil war (localized fighting resumes the next year).
1998 – A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin" in regard to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
1998 – The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.
2001 – In Washington, D.C., U.S. President George W. Bush dedicates the United States Department of Justice headquarters building as the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Building, honoring the late Robert F. Kennedy on what would have been his 76th birthday.
2003 – After the November 15 bombings, a second day of the 2003 Istanbul Bombings occurs in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC Bank AS and the British consulate.
2008 – After critical failures in the US financial system began to build up after mid-September, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level since 1997.

Births

270 – Maximinus II, Roman Emperor (d. 313)
1602 – Otto von Guericke, German physicist (d. 1686)
1620 – Peregrine White, first English child born in the Plymouth Colony (d. 1704)
1621 – Avvakum, Russian priest and writer (d. 1682)
1625 – Paulus Potter, Dutch painter (d. 1654)
1660 – Daniel Ernst Jablonski, German theologian (d. 1741)
1750 – Tipu Sultan, Indian ruler (d. 1799)
1761 – Pope Pius VIII (d. 1830)
1762 – Pierre André Latreille, French entomologist (d. 1833)
1765 – Sir Thomas Fremantle, British naval captain (d. 1819)
1781 – Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German jurist (d. 1854)
1839 – Christian Wilberg, German painter (d. 1882)
1841 – Victor D'Hondt, Belgian mathematician (d. 1901)
1841 – Wilfrid Laurier, seventh Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1919)
1851 – Queen Margherita of Italy (d. 1926)
1858 – Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish author, Nobel laureate (d. 1940)
1866 – Kenesaw Mountain Landis, American judge and baseball commissioner (d. 1944)
1869 – Clark Griffith, American baseball manager (d. 1955)
1874 – James Michael Curley, 53rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
1877 – Herbert Pitman, English 3rd Officer on the RMS Titanic (d. 1961)
1880 – Walter Brack, German backstroke and breaststroke swimmer (d. 1919)
1880 – George McBride, American baseball player (d. 1973)
1882 – Andy Coakley, American baseball player and coach (d. 1963)
1884 – Norman Thomas, American political figure (d. 1968)
1886 – Karl von Frisch, Austrian zoologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1982)
1886 – Robert Hunter, American golfer (d. 1971)
1889 – Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (d. 1953)
1892 – James Collip, Canadian biochemist, co-discoverer of insulin (d. 1965)
1896 – Chiyono Hasegawa, a Japanese supercentenarian. (d. 2011)
1900 – Chester Gould, American comic strip artist (d. 1985)
1903 – Alexandra Danilova, Russian ballerina (d. 1997)
1903 – Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani historian and educationist (d. 1981)
1905 – François, 9th duc de Noailles, French nobelman (d. 2009)
1907 – Fran Allison, American television personality (d. 1989)
1907 – Henri-Georges Clouzot, French film director (d. 1977)
1908 – Alistair Cooke, British-born journalist (d. 2004)
1910 – Kees Bastiaans, Dutch painter (d. 1986)
1910 – Willem Jacob van Stockum, Dutch physicist (d. 1944)
1912 – Otto von Habsburg, Austrian-German nobleman (d. 2011)
1913 – Judy Canova, American actress (d. 1983)
1913 – Kostas Choumis, Greek footballer (d. 1981)
1914 – Emilio Pucci, Italian fashion designer (d. 1992)
1915 – Kon Ichikawa, Japanese film director (d. 2008)
1916 – Evelyn Keyes, American actress (d. 2008)
1917 – Robert Byrd, American politician, longest serving member of the United States Congress (d. 2010)
1917 – Bobby Locke, South African golfer (d. 1987)
1921 – Jim Garrison, American attorney and judge (d. 1992)
1921 – Phyllis Thaxter, American actress (d. 2012)
1923 – Nadine Gordimer, South African writer, Nobel laureate
1924 – Benoît Mandelbrot, Polish-born French mathematician (d. 2010)
1924 – Henk Vredeling, Dutch politician (d. 2007)
1925 – Robert F. Kennedy, American politician (d. 1968)
1925 – Maya Plisetskaya, Russian ballet dancer
1925 – Kaye Ballard, American comic actress
1926 – John Gardner, English novelist (d. 2007)
1926 – Terry Hall, English ventriloquist (d. 2007)
1926 – Andrzej W. Schally, Polish endocrinologist, Nobel laureate
1927 – Ed "Too Tall" Freeman, American United States Army officer, helicopter pilot and Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2008)
1927 – Estelle Parsons, American actress
1928 – Aleksey Batalov, Russian actor
1928 – John Disley, Welsh athlete
1929 – Don January, American professional golfer
1930 – Bernard Horsfall, British actor
1932 – Richard Dawson, English-American actor and game show host (d. 2012)
1936 – Don DeLillo, American author
1937 – René Kollo, German tenor
1937 – Ruth Laredo, American pianist (d. 2005)
1937 – Eero Mäntyranta, Finnish cross-country skier
1937 – Viktoriya Tokareva, Russian playwright
1939 – Dick Smothers, American comedian
1940 – Bob Einstein, American actor and comedian
1941 – Haseena Moin, Pakistani television writer and playwright
1942 – Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the United States
1942 – Norman Greenbaum, American singer
1942 – Meredith Monk, American composer and choreographer
1942 – Paulos Faraj Rahho, Iraqi bishop (d. 2008)
1943 – Veronica Hamel, American actress
1944 – Louie Dampier, American basketball player
1945 – Rick Monday, American baseball player
1945 – Nanette Workman, American-born Canadian singer and actress
1946 – Duane Allman, American guitarist (The Allman Brothers Band) (d. 1971)
1946 – Greg Cook, American football player
1946 – Judy Woodruff, American TV anchor
1947 – Joe Walsh, American musician (Eagles, James Gang)
1948 – John R. Bolton, American ambassador
1948 – Barbara Hendricks, American/Swedish singer
1948 – Richard Masur, American actor
1949 – Thelma Drake, American politician
1949 – Jeff Dowd, American film producer
1951 – David Walters, American politician
1951 – Rodger Bumpass, American voice actor
1952 – John Van Boxmeer, Canadian hockey player
1954 – Berit Andnor, Swedish politician
1954 – Steve Dahl, American radio personality
1956 – Bo Derek, American actress
1956 – Mark Gastineau, American football player
1957 – Stefan Bellof, German race car driver (d. 1985)
1957 – Mike Craven, English footballer
1957 – John Eriksen, Danish footballer (d. 2002)
1958 – Rickson Gracie, Brazilian mixed martial artist
1959 – James P. McGovern, American politician
1959 – Sean Young, American actress
1960 – Veronika Bellmann, German politician
1960 – Marc Labrèche, Canadian actor and television host
1961 – Tim Harvey, British racing driver
1961 – Larry Karaszewski, American screenwriter
1961 – Jim Brickman, American pianist and songwriter
1961 – Dave Watson, English footballer
1963 – Timothy Gowers, British mathematician
1963 – Ming-Na Wen, Macau actress
1963 – Wan Yanhai, Chinese AIDS activist
1965 – Mike D, American musician (Beastie Boys)
1965 – Sen Dog, Cuban rapper (Cypress Hill)
1965 – Yoshiki Hayashi, Japanese musician (X Japan)
1965 – Jimmy Vasser, American racing driver
1966 – Kevin Gilbert, American musician (d. 1996)
1966 – Thanasis Kolitsidakis, Greek footballer
1966 – Jill Thompson, American comic book writer and artist
1967 – Chris Childs, American basketball player
1967 – Teoman, Turkish rock singer
1968 – Tommy Asinga, Surinamese track star
1968 – Chew Chor Meng, Singaporean actor
1969 – Callie Thorne, American actor
1970 – Matt Blunt, American politician
1970 – Delia Gonzalez, American boxer
1970 – Geoffrey Keezer, American jazz pianist
1970 – Sabrina Lloyd, American actress
1970 – Joe Zaso, American actor
1970 – Phife Dawg, American rapper (A Tribe Called Quest)
1971 – Joey Galloway, American football player
1971 – Joel McHale, American actor and comedian
1971 – Marco Oppedisano, American guitarist and composer
1972 – Sheema Kalbasi, Iranian poet
1973 – Angelica Bridges, American actress, model, and singer
1975 – Dierks Bentley, American singer
1975 – Ryan Bowen, American basketball player
1975 – J. D. Drew, American baseball player
1975 – Davey Havok, American singer (AFI)
1975 – Joshua Gomez, American actor
1976 – Dominique Dawes, American gymnast
1976 – Laura Harris, Canadian actress
1976 – Tusshar Kapoor, Indian actor
1976 – Jason Thompson, Canadian actor
1976 – Theodoros Velkos, badminton player
1976 – Cemal Yildiz, Turkish footballer
1977 – Rudy Charles, American professional wrestling referee
1977 – Daniel Svensson, Swedish drummer
1977 – Josh Turner, American singer
1978 – Freya Lin, Taiwanese singer
1978 – Nadine Velazquez, American actress and model
1979 – Ericson Alexander Molano, Colombian gospel singer
1979 – Maree Bowden, New Zealand netball player (Silver Ferns)
1980 – James Chambers, English footballer
1981 – Carlos Boozer, American basketball player
1981 – Sam Fuld, American baseball player
1981 – Kimberley Walsh, English singer (Girls Aloud)
1982 – Margo Stilley, American actress
1984 – Tashard Choice, American football player
1984 – Robertson, Indian Engineer
1984 – Ferdinando Monfardini, Italian racing driver
1984 – Justin Hoyte, English footballer
1985 – Juan Cruz Álvarez, Argentine racing driver
1985 – Dan Byrd, American actor
1985 – Aaron Yan, Taiwanese singer and actor (Fahrenheit)
1985 – Carly Rae Jepsen, Canadian singer
1986 – Ashley Fink, American Actress
1986 – Jared Followill, American rock musician
1986 – Oli Sykes, English musician
1986 – Özer Hurmaci, Turkish footballer
1988 – Rhys Wakefield, Australian actor
1988 – Max Pacioretty, American hockey player
1989 – Cody Linley, American actor
1989 – Agon Mehmeti, Swedish footballer
1990 – Mark Christian, Manx professional cyclist
1991 – Anthony Knockaert, French footballer
1992 – Maiha Ishimura, Japanese pop singer (Berryz Kobo)
1993 – Sumire Sato, Japanese singer (AKB48)
2000 – Connie Talbot, English singer

Deaths

811 – Li Fan (b. 754)
855 – Theoktistos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire
869 – King Edmund of East Anglia (b. 841)
1022 – Bernward of Hildesheim (b. 993)
1314 – Albert II, Margrave of Meissen (b. 1240)
1316 – King John I of France (b. 1316)
1437 – Thomas Langley, Bishop of Durham (b. 1363)
1518 – Marmaduke Constable, English soldier
1518 – Pierre de La Rue, Flemish composer
1529 – Karl von Miltitz, German papal nuncio (b. c. 1490)
1591 – Christopher Hatton, English politician (b. 1540)
1612 – John Harington, English writer (b. 1561)
1651 – Mikolaj Potocki, Polish soldier (b. 1595)
1662 – Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Austrian-born Spanish territorial governor (b. 1614)
1695 – Zumbi, Brazilian slave (b. 1655)
1704 – Charles Plumier, French botanist (b. 1646)
1737 – Queen Caroline of Ansbach, consort of George II of Great Britain (b. 1683)
1742 – Melchior de Polignac, French diplomat (b. 1661)
1758 – Johan Helmich Roman, Swedish composer (b. 1694)
1764 – Christian Goldbach, Prussian mathematician (b. 1690)
1778 – Francesco Cetti, Italian Jesuit scientist (b. 1726)
1856 – Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1775)
1894 – Anton Rubinstein, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1829)
1898 – Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet, British railway engineer (b. 1817)
1908 – Georgy Voronoy, Russian mathematician (b. 1868)
1910 – Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Russian novelist (b. 1828)
1922 – Peter Ratican, American soccer player (b. 1887)
1925 – Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom (b. 1844)
1934 – Willem de Sitter, Dutch scientist (b. 1872)
1936 – Buenaventura Durruti, Spanish anarchist (b. 1896)
1936 – José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish politician (b. 1903)
1938 – Enzo Matsunaga, Japanese writer (b. 1895)
1938 – Maud, Queen of Norway (b. 1869)
1943 – Emil Kellenberger, Swiss sports shooter (b. 1864)
1945 – Francis William Aston, British chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1877)
1950 – Francesco Cilea, Italian composer (b. 1866)
1951 – Thomas Quinlan (impresario), British opera impresario (b. 1881)
1951 – Adolf Spinnler, Swiss gymnast (b. 1879)
1954 – Clyde Vernon Cessna, American aviation designer (b. 1879)
1957 – Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Russian-born Lithuanian artist (d. 1875)
1973 – Allan Sherman, American comedian (b. 1924)
1975 – Francisco Franco, Spanish dictator (b. 1892)
1976 – Trofim Lysenko, Russian biologist (b. 1898)
1978 – Vasilisk Gnedov, Russian poet (b. 1890)
1978 – Giorgio de Chirico, Italian painter (b.1888)
1980 – John McEwen, Australian politician (b. 1900)
1983 – Marcel Dalio, French actor (b. 1900)
1984 – Kristian Djurhuus, Faroese politician, 2nd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (b. 1895)
1984 – Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Pakistani poet (b. 1911)
1994 – John Lucarotti, British-born Canadian screenwriter (b. 1926)
1995 – Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (b. 1967)
1995 – Robie Macauley, American novelist and literary critic (b. 1919)
1997 – Dick Littlefield, American baseball player (b. 1926)
1998 – Galina Starovoitova, Russian politician (b. 1946)
1999 – Amintore Fanfani, Italian politician (b. 1908)
2000 – Mike Muuss, American computer programmer (b. 1958)
2000 – Kalle Päätalo, Finnish writer (b. 1919)
2003 – Robert Addie, British actor (b. 1960)
2003 – Loris Azzaro, French fashion designer (b. 1933)
2003 – David Dacko, Central African politician (b. 1930)
2003 – Eugene Kleiner, American entrepreneur (b. 1923)
2003 – Roger Short, British statesman (b. 1944)
2003 – Jim Siedow, American actor (b. 1920)
2003 – Kerem Yilmazer, Turkish actor (b. 1945)
2004 – David Grierson, Canadian radio host (b. 1955)
2004 – Jenny Ross, English musician (Section 25) (b. 1962)
2005 – Manouchehr Atashi, Iranian poet (b. 1931)
2005 – Nora Denney, American actress (b. 1928)
2005 – Sheldon Gardner, American psychologist (b. 1934)
2005 – James King, American singer (b. 1925)
2005 – Chris Whitley, American musician (b. 1960)
2006 – Robert Altman, American film director (b. 1925)
2006 – Zoia Ceausescu, Romanian mathematician (b. 1950)
2006 – Andre Waters, American football player (b. 1962)
2007 – Ian Smith, Rhodesian politician (b. 1919)
2008 – Bennie Gonzales, American architect (b. 1924)
2008 – Sven Inge, Swedish painter (b. 1935)
2009 – Lino Lacedelli, Italian mountaineer, one of the first team to summit K2 (b. 1925)
2010 – Rob Lytle, American football player (b. 1954)
2010 – Laurie Bembenek, American convicted murderer and fugitive (b. 1958)
2010 – Danny McDevitt, American baseball player (b. 1932)
2010 – Chalmers Johnson, American political scholar and author (b. 1931)
2010 – Roxana Briban, Romanian Soprano (b. 1971)