Fractals

This text will be a valuable tool and reference work for all those interested in fractal forms and their properties. The past decade has seen an almost exponential amount of work done in the field of non-integral dimensions. Upon publication of Mandelbrot's Objets Fractals (1975), a great number of researchers understood the interest of fractals. Many tried, by means of the theory, to set up immediately useable tools, including the author, who opted for an experimental approach and developed instrumentation to explore the widest possible range in both time and space (time resolution of the laser spectroscopy of biomolecules). In this spirit, these expert researchers organized monthly "Hausdorff seminars on the notion of non-integral dimension and its applications" to tackle the problems confronting practical scientists. This work captures, with many illustrative examples, the main themes of each session.