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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