[FRIAM] A Fractal Introduction

[Alfredo CV]

Profesor Wolfe

Fractals in Nature
Maybe it'd be interesting for you and your students. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uas_HJNAzfw


Regards

Alfredo


Jonathan Wolfe wrote:

>     Hi everyone - I've finally joined this list, and have been 
> lurking  for about a week to learn the culture a bit before 
> introducing myself.  And it's finally time to do so, because I'll be 
> in Santa Fe tonight  giving a talk for the Science Café series put on 
> by the Santa Fe  Alliance for Science. It's from 6-8 PM, tonight 
> (Monday) at the  Georgia O'keeffe Museum Education Annex, at 123 Grant 
> St.  The title  of my talk is "Zooming into Infinity: A Fractal 
> Adventure." It's a  free show, so if you want to see it get there 
> early to make sure you  get a seat. More info at: 
> http://www.sfafs.org/sciencecafes.asp
>     But I'm not really here to plug the show, I just wanted to 
> introduce  myself, and I thought this was a good opportunity in case 
> some of you  wanted to come to the show tonight to get a bit more 
> detailed glimpse  of who I am and what I'm up to (see, a fractal 
> intro, available at  different scales :)   
>
>     So, I'm the Executive Director of this small but exciting 
> educational  nonprofit, the Fractal Foundation, but most people just 
> call me the  Fractal Man. And I do talk a lot about fractals, to lots 
> of people,  everywhere I go. In fact, over the past 4 years, I've 
> taught fractals  to over 21,000 people, (roughly 12,000 children and 
> 9,000 adults) all  over New Mexico. Given that there's ~326,000 
> students in NM schools,  we're now 3.6% of the way to Leaving No Child 
> Unfractalled! And this  is so much fun... whenever I go into a 
> classroom and teach the kids  about fractals, they get so excited! 
> People love fractals, and we use  the beauty and excitement of 
> fractals to inspire interest in science,  math and art.  I'm always 
> impressed by how well young people grasp  these concepts, but it makes 
> sense because humans are so visual, and  because the world around us 
> is full of fractal patterns, which means  our visual systems have 
> evolved to perceive these patterns. Oh yes -  my scientific 
> background, to continue introducing myself, is in  neuroscience, 
> specializing in the visual system. I don't do much  direct 
> neuroscience research anymore, because I find I make much more  of an 
> impact teaching. I also use the knowledge I have about how we  
> perceive the world to inform my art and help me design incredibly  
> beautiful visual stimuli that are effective at a large range of 
> scales  and different lighting conditions. The art medium I'm best 
> known for  is hot-air ballooning, and you can see pictures of my 
> fractal-inspired  tiedyed balloons at http://www.SkyDyes.net . 
> Ballooning itself is an  amazing performance artform, where we throw 
> ourselves into a chaotic  system, the sky, and the more we understand 
> about the complex dynamics  of the atmosphere, the more power and 
> control we have to navigate  where we wish to fly. It's a very subtle, 
> very beautiful activity,  completely unlike the brute-force flying you 
> do with an airplane.   
>
>     There's lots more to share, and I'd be happy to come up and do a 
> talk  sometime for Friam, about the applications of fractals in 
> science,  engineering and education.
>     I also want to invite you all to the most fun public shows I do,  
> "First Friday Fractals" at the Natural History Museum Planetarium 
> down  here in Albuquerque, coming up again this Friday, Feb 1st, at 
> 6,7 and  8PM. This show has been a runaway success, having sold out 
> all 51  consecutive First Friday showings for over a year now. It's 
> really  thrilling to have such an unprecedented turnout for a math and 
> science  show, but that's a testament to the incredible beauty of 
> fractals. And  the fulldome immersive video environment in the dome is 
> a most  dramatic way to enjoy the experience of zooming deeeep into 
> algebraic  fractals. I choreograph the zooms to original music, which 
> has the  soldout audience cheering, and makes me feel like the rarest 
> of  creatures -  a mathematical rockstar. Fun!  But if you want to 
> come,  make sure to buy tickets online at least a day in advance, or 
> you  might not get in. (See the website below for ticket info.)
>
>     So I hope to meet you all sometime, and I look forward to getting  
> better connected with the Santa Fe community. Oh - one more thing...  
> I'll be up in Santa Fe again on Feb 5th, which is Math & Science Day  
> at the State Legislature. Come by if you can, say hi, see our display  
> of student-made fractals, and show your support for math and science  
> education.
> Thanks!
>
> -Jonathan Wolfe, Ph.D.
> Executive Director
> http://www.FractalFoundation.org
> Next First Friday Fractals show: February 1st
> Fractals are SMART: Science, Math & Art!
>
>
>
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-- 

--------------------------------
     Alfredo Covaleda Vélez
       Ingeniero Agrónomo
          Programador
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