An IBM researcher will use computer imagery and animation to illustrate fanciful, but very useful, examples of fractal mathematics during a free public lecture Monday, March 9, at the University of California, Davis. Richard F. Voss, an internationally recognized physicist and lecturer will talk about "The Practical Fractal: From Mathematical Monsters to Real World Problems" at 8 p.m. in Room 2 of Wellman Hall. His presentation is sponsored by the UC Davis chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society of North America. Fractal mathematics is a relatively new area of inquiry that deals with a family of irregular and fragmented patterns and shapes that cannot be adequately defined using traditional Euclidean geometry. For example, this new mathematical "language" has enabled scientists to better describe the jagged surfaces of metals or the porousness of oil-containing rocks. Currently, fractal mathematics is being applied in such diverse areas as the analysis of X-ray mammograms, classification of Chinese landscape drawings and quantifying the structure of DNA. A frequent lecturer on fractal geometry, Richard Voss is employed at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York, where he has worked closely with Benoit Mandelbrot, who is considered the "father" of fractal geometry. Voss earned his doctoral degree in physics from UC Berkeley in 1975, after which he joined IBM's research division, where he has developed a mastery of scientific computer graphics and has been instrumental in the rapid acceptance of fractals as a useful mathematical language. His computer-generated images have appeared in numerous magazines, books, television shows and IBM commercials. He is the co-author of the book "The Science of Fractal Images," published in 1987, and is currently collaborating with a New York sculptor on a new book titled "Chaos, Fractals and Art."