A fractal in infinity. The term 'fractal' was coined by mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot, born in Poland in 1924. he is
known as the 'Father of Fractals'. In order to understand the concept of a fractal, we can say that it is a
geometric object made up of elements which are also geometric, or varying size and orientation, but of similar appearance. Curiously, if a fractal object is enlarged, the resulting
structure retains the same appearance, regardless of the scale of enlargement used, and forms part of the larger elements, like a mosaic. In other words, these elements have a recursive geometric structure. It is striking that, after Mandelbrot, many scientists have developed models to describe and understand how forms are created in nature, and how growth in nature is linked to fractal models. We can find fractal forms in various plant structures; en mountain ranges, rocks and stones; in galaxies, coastal areas, mountains rock faces; in physical processes and chemicals. Crystalisation, fracturing of materials, particle movement, electrical discharges, electrolysis. In the human organism: the circulatory system, the distribution of veins, arteries, nerves, the structure of the lungs. The study of fractals is not privative nor exclusive to mathematics. It is for each scientific discipline to determine the origin of the different phenomena which can be explained by fractal models. It is not difficult to imagine the interdisciplinary potential of these objects, as elements which could constitute the axis on which diverse disciplines would work together. Although concepts like 'chaos' and 'fractals' refer to realities which have different behaviours, both terms tend to appear in the same context, as does the expression 'butterfly effect', through which Edgard Lorenz invites us to understand how the flapping wings of a butterfly in Barcelona today may be intimately related to a possible hurricane next month in Tokyo. Among the websites containing information on this subject, www.fractales.org can be particularly recommended. Expressions like autosimilitude, fractal dimension, fractal dragon, although they may seem strange now, are already familiar to experts in the subject, who have deepened our knowledge of a reality which until less than half a century ago would have seemed a flight of fancy. Extraordinarily magical and beautiful images have been shown to us to exemplify these marvellous fractals. Just as the phrase 'A fractal is a way of seeing infinity', it would seem that poetry and science were drawing closer to a marriage which reminds us of William Blake. Synopsis translated by: Ely PH