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Page 18 / July 26 - August 15, 2010
New Mexico Daily Lobo
‘Fractal Man’ fosters new approach to learning math by Alexandra Swanberg Daily Lobo
Jonathan Wolfe’s vision is as limitless as the fractals that dominate his mind. A balloonist, artist and scientist, “The Fractal Man” is on his way to spreading fractal knowledge worldwide. “It’s incredibly gratifying as an artist to impact so many people so powerfully,” Wolfe said. “It’s like taking some spark of imagination and making it real.” Wolfe’s passion for these simple and repeating, yet weirdly complex patterns began in 1987, when he was at Albuquerque Academy and his friend sketched one out. Not yet envisioning a career in fractals, he earned his doctorate in visual neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, expecting to become a professor like his father. While researching his thesis, Wolfe traveled to Vermont to construct a tie-dyed hot air balloon. Upon completion, Wolfe had a post-doctorate fellowship available to him. However, the limited
influence of a typical neuroscientist left him wanting more. “I’d work really hard to publish a paper in a scientific journal and maybe 10 to 20 people would read it, and only a few would understand or care,” Wolfe said. “I wanted to make a bigger impact than that.” His change in motivation led him back to Albuquerque to pursue art and where his fractal balloon got attention. A school teacher invited him to teach her students fractals after she approached the landing site of his multi-colored balloon. He then became motivated to “fractalize” people. “Motivation is key. People are very smart. They can learn whatever they want,” Wolfe said. “They have to have a reason to learn. The way we teach math in school right now doesn’t motivate or inspire, and that’s what the great promise of fractals is.” Wolfe said he has already spoken to 30,000 children about fractals. His growing audience prompted him to gather a group of people, also interested in chaos complexity
see Fractals page 19
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