Benoit Mandelbrot passed away today. The Mandelbrot set is one of the most colourful, intriguing and beautiful pictures one will find that is mapped so directly and elegantly to mathematics. Mandelbrot popularised Mathematics a lot by virtue of the beauty of fractals and their very appealing images (all the while also explaining a lot of complex phenomena).

The NY Times has an obituary here[1] along with the mandatory image[2]. Slashdot has coverage[3] and so does the BBC[4]. The BBC Magazine also has a brief article on "How Mandelbrot's fractals changed the world" here[5]. I'm sure there'll be more for this worthy mathematician who certainly made mathematics far more beautiful for the lay person.