Gaston Julia
Encyclopedia
Gaston Maurice Julia was a French
mathematician
who devised the formula for the Julia set
. His works were popularized by French mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot
; the Julia and Mandelbrot fractal
s are closely related.
n town of Sidi Bel Abbes
, at the time governed by the French
. During his youth, he had an interest in mathematics and music. His studies were interrupted at the age of 21 years old, when France became involved with World War I
and he was conscripted to serve with the army. During an attack he suffered a severe injury, losing his nose. His many operations to remedy the situation were all unsuccessful, and for the rest of his life he resigned himself to wearing a leather strap around the area where his nose had been.
, a French
mathematics journal. The article, which he published during 1918 at the age of 25, titled "Mémoire sur l'itération des fonctions rationnelles" described the iteration of a rational function
. The article gained immense popularity among mathematicians and the general population as a whole, and so resulted in Julia's later receiving of the Grand Prix de l'Académie des Sciences. Despite his fame, his works were mostly forgotten until the day Benoît Mandelbrot
mentioned them in his works.
Julia died in Paris
at the age of 85.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
who devised the formula for the Julia set
Julia set
In the context of complex dynamics, a topic of mathematics, the Julia set and the Fatou set are two complementary sets defined from a function...
. His works were popularized by French mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot
Benoît Mandelbrot
Benoît B. Mandelbrot was a French American mathematician. Born in Poland, he moved to France with his family when he was a child...
; the Julia and Mandelbrot fractal
Fractal
A fractal has been defined as "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduced-size copy of the whole," a property called self-similarity...
s are closely related.
Military service
Julia was born in the AlgeriaAlgeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n town of Sidi Bel Abbes
Sidi Bel Abbes
Sidi Bel-Abbes is capital of the Sidi Bel Abbès wilaya , Algeria. It is named after a Muslim holy man who is buried there. It is the commercial center of an important area of vineyards, market gardens, orchards, and grain fields. It is surrounded by a wall with four gates and there is a...
, at the time governed by the French
French Algeria
French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...
. During his youth, he had an interest in mathematics and music. His studies were interrupted at the age of 21 years old, when France became involved with World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and he was conscripted to serve with the army. During an attack he suffered a severe injury, losing his nose. His many operations to remedy the situation were all unsuccessful, and for the rest of his life he resigned himself to wearing a leather strap around the area where his nose had been.
Career in mathematics
Julia gained attention for his mathematical work after the war when a 199-page article he wrote was featured in the Journal de Mathématiques Pures et AppliquéesJournal de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées
The Journal de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées is a French monthly scientific journal of mathematics, founded in 1836 by Joseph Liouville. It is published by Elsevier. According to the 2008 Journal Citation Reports, its impact factor is 1.204. Articles are written in English or French.- External...
, a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
mathematics journal. The article, which he published during 1918 at the age of 25, titled "Mémoire sur l'itération des fonctions rationnelles" described the iteration of a rational function
Rational function
In mathematics, a rational function is any function which can be written as the ratio of two polynomial functions. Neither the coefficients of the polynomials nor the values taken by the function are necessarily rational.-Definitions:...
. The article gained immense popularity among mathematicians and the general population as a whole, and so resulted in Julia's later receiving of the Grand Prix de l'Académie des Sciences. Despite his fame, his works were mostly forgotten until the day Benoît Mandelbrot
Benoît Mandelbrot
Benoît B. Mandelbrot was a French American mathematician. Born in Poland, he moved to France with his family when he was a child...
mentioned them in his works.
Julia died in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
at the age of 85.
External links
- Memoir on iteration of rational functions, English translation in parts: 1/7, 2/7, 3/7, 4/7, 5/7, 6/7, 7/7.
- Downloadable articles at Numdam.
- http://www.diplom.de/katalog/arbeit/11026 Christoph Dötsch, Dynamik meromorpher Funktionen auf der Riemannschen Zahlenkugel, Diplomica GmbH Hamburg (2008)