Robert P. Munafo, 2008 Feb 1.

A. K. Dewdney

Computer Recreations

Scientific American vol. 253, no. 2 (August 1985), p. 16

ISSN 0036-8733

When this appeared on the newsstands, the number of people who knew about the Mandelbrot Set increased by a factor of at least 10000. It pretty much single-handedly got the whole Mandelbrot fad going. The cover looked roughly like this:

_ _ _ ___ _ _ ___ _ ___ _ _ (_` / ` | |_ |\ | | | |_ | / ` , ) \ , | | | \| | | | | \ , ^ ^ ^ ^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ _ _ _ ___ __ _ _ _ _ _ / \ |\/| |_ |_) | / ` / \ |\ | |^| | | | | \ | \ , |^| | \| ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ +------------------------------------------------------------+ | _,d*Y^%, . _ | | ^ aa($', :_m(\\]L,:_c | | 'd"-Y;. '",''*'Cb_(e- .,_ | | ^^ "@'$/v@` '-"/F\% '*C^ | | ^ ' `@dee-:F.\ . ._ | | -*m%-'*m@("L, _d)m]@ | | ._d@-^^` .@^_/""` | | -a*TLa_.C"` ^^]b_, | | _a_, .am$@^$@)r .__ -(b@` | | ^%@,-/""^"Y^Y@*c *'m@@@*^._a,_ | | ^YYmF` '^ad@@m mamF^_- /Lc"` | | -m_. ._:*YT@bmd(dbd@m$@) | | .am/F^ .e__., . ._ ^^` -""$@@@$`:L'.___, | | .m@r .__va_^^Ym@b$m,v%_ammm/-m@@@%L"@(@aedb"* | |/,- 'YmaF"@(@$d@F@@b@*__-"Y*@@@bm@@F^/_/^Y@@b^ | |@F__ ` .d@^*.d@@L@ed@@e"@F"^^'@@ad)"'` __. | |@)de '`.a~@@F^*@F""***L, .@@@@F._, -(^YLr | |^**" am- -a .md@@Ld@)- ^-Y@CmC.d)m_m@, ^ | |@@^_ ^bm:,, '@a*Y*T@F*" "@FL'$@@$@\m | |@Y,^mmd@@@a,_ _.a@@@` '"@be@@@@% | |b/@md@F"@@(/@a,'""Y@m ]em@**"@- _,., | |'^'**` _$@$@F@@m_'"Yb, :@\@dm*- _dd@m) | | ^`'**^*FmLF@, am@F@F^ 'Ybve_, | | ^^^"-__ ..addF*^` m-- ._@@ca- | | -vmmbC^^m_]C,_a@Le,:b_mbd@d@Cm| +------------------------------------------------------------+ EXPLORING THE MANDELBROT SET $2.50 August 1985

Here is a better view of the image (rendered with the Distance Estimator algorithm and showing External Angle lines):

-0.9189 + 0.2646 i @ 0.0625

The prominent island is R2.1/2F(1/5B1)S, the 24^th-largest island mu-molecule.