Tuesday 13 March 2012

Inaugural Lecture: Prof. Lars Olsen

Professor Lars Olsen, of the School of Mathematics and Statistics, will deliver his Inaugural Lecture on Fractals, Multifractals and Dimensions in School III, St Salvator’s Quadrangle on Wednesday, 14 March 2012 at 5.15 p.m. All are welcome.

Professor Olsens’ research centres around fractal and multifractal geometry and its applications within number theory, ergodic theory and dynamical systems.
Fractals are geometric figures that have a very irregular and intricate structure and contain many copies of themselves at different scales. Similarly, multifractals are highly irregular distributions also containing many copies of themselves at different scales
Fractals/multifractals are not easily described using classical Euclidean geometry and so a new theory of fractal/multifractal geometry has been developed. Such sets and distributions have attracted increasing attention in recent years, partly due to the development of striking computer graphics and partly due to a realisation that many natural phenomena such as cloud boundaries or the distribution of rainfall are best approximated by fractals and multifractals.