How can some scientists deal with many different subjects?

[mech-eng]

Even though I know only one, I believe there might be more. So I choose the title as "some scientists". The scientist I know is Benoit Mandelbrot who dealt with a lot of different subjecst?

His math and geometry-centered research included contributions to such fields as statistical physics, meteorology, hydrology, geomorphology, anatomy, taxonomy, neurology, linguistics, information technology, computer graphics, economics, geology, medicine, physical cosmology, engineering, chaos theory, econophysics, metallurgy, and the social sciences.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benoit_Mandelbrot

And the following is from Richard L. Hudson, who is co-author of "The (Mis) Behavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence" with Benoit Mandelbrot.

He has been premature, contrary to fashion, trouble-making, in virtually every field he has touched: statistical physics, cosmology, meteorology, hydrology, geomorphology, anatomy, taxonomy, neurology, linguistics, information technology, computer graphics, and, of course, mathematics. In economics he is especially controversial

Henry Poincare dealt with many different subjects but they were probably all mathematics. The situation for Mandelbrot is different than Poincare.

Does this situation prove that Mandelbrot was a great genius?

 

[mcastillo356]

Bertrand Russell, Descartes, could be among these? Newton, Einstein? Interesting thread, @mech-eng!

 

[fresh_42]

Pal Erdös.

 

[robphy]

Does this situation prove that Mandelbrot was a great genius?

Prove? I don't think it is so clear.
It could be that certain methods or ideas can find application in various disciplines.
The injection of a new way of thinking can be a great influence on activity in that discipline.

Were these contributions "single-author" or
were they collaborations, where each collaborator contributes something from their own expertise?

 

[mech-eng]

Were these contributions "single-author" or
were they collaborations, where each collaborator contributes something from their own expertise?

The injection of a new way of thinking can be a great influence on activity in that discipline.

I don't know the details. I have just read the quotes I shared, but Mandelbrot is probably the founder\discoverer of "fractal geometry".

Benoit Mandelbrot was an intellectual jack-of-all-trades. While he will always be known for his discovery of fractal geometry, Mandelbrot should also be recognized for bridging the gap between art and mathematics, and showing that these two worlds are not mutually exclusive.

https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/fractal/#:~:text=Benoit Mandelbrot was an intellectual,worlds are not mutually exclusive.

 

[apostolosdt]

I once asked a theorist an analogous question, because I was impressed by the diversity of his publications. He said, “They are all the same.”

 

[robphy]

His math and geometry-centered research included contributions to such fields as statistical physics, meteorology, hydrology, geomorphology, anatomy, taxonomy, neurology, linguistics, information technology, computer graphics, economics, geology, medicine, physical cosmology, engineering, chaos theory, econophysics, metallurgy, and the social sciences.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benoit_Mandelbrot

And the following is from Richard L. Hudson, who is co-author of "The (Mis) Behavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence" with Benoit Mandelbrot.

He has been premature, contrary to fashion, trouble-making, in virtually every field he has touched: statistical physics, cosmology, meteorology, hydrology, geomorphology, anatomy, taxonomy, neurology, linguistics, information technology, computer graphics, and, of course, mathematics. In economics he is especially controversial

I don't know the details. I have just read the quotes I shared, but Mandelbrot is probably the founder\discoverer of "fractal geometry".

Yes, Mandelbrot discovered "fractal geometry".

In this context, two common themes (and possibly others) connect the disciplines listed:

• material science (the microscopic structure of matter)
• dynamical systems (the behavior of systems evolving by a set of differential equations)

So, as I suggested earlier, these contributions are likely trying to find applications
of a very fruitful idea, namely fractal geometry and self-similarity.

For example:

• https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/WR004i005p00909
  
  Noah, Joseph, and Operational Hydrology
  Benoit B. Mandelbrot, James R. Wallis
  First published: October 1968
  https://doi.org/10.1029/WR004i005p00909
  
  By ‘Noah Effect’ we designate the observation that extreme precipitation can be very extreme indeed, and by ‘Joseph Effect’ the finding that a long period of unusual (high or low) precipitation can be extremely long. Current models of statistical hydrology cannot account for either effect and must be superseded. As a replacement, ‘self-similar’ models appear very promising. They account particularly well for the remarkable empirical observations of Harold Edwin Hurst. The present paper introduces and summarizes a series of investigations on self-similar operational hydrology.
  
  
• https://users.math.yale.edu/mandelbrot/web_pdfs/jp_earth.pdf