Ever wonder how an entire computer fits into the smallest cell phone?

Cell phones of the 1980s were huge abominations in comparison to the sleek, sexy design of your average cell phone of the 21st Century. Not to mention, the only thing the earliest cell phone model could accomplish was a phone call. Today, many people carry around an entire computer in their pocket and don’t think twice about it.

So, how does everything fit into the tiniest cell phone?

The answer to this question came about by sheer happenstance. It’s all about fractals.

It takes us back to Benoit Mandelbrot — an inquisitive Polish-born scientist who dared to investigate the true nature of chaos. He outlined the “Mandelbrot set”, a famous fractal sequence that comes as a product of mathematics. In time, Mandelbrot began to deduce that there were fractal patterns everywhere around us occurring in all aspects of nature.

Mandelbrot worked for IBM and used this sequence to develop 3D computer graphics generation systems for more realistic landscapes with the textures of mountains, waters, and clouds. With this information, he wrote the book The Fractal Geometry of Nature.

It wasn’t until later that radio astronomer Nathan Cohen would use this knowledge in Mandelbrot’s book to make cell phones possible. When Cohen’s Ham radio wasn’t getting good enough reception, he began to experiment with it (as any good scientist would). Thinking back to the book, he bent the antenna into a fractal shape and found that his radio came in much clearer than before.

It was a moment of ingenious invention.

With more investigation into fractal antennas, he accidentally discovered the technology necessary to process at the capacity of 21st Century cell phones. You see, the average cell phone holds an abundance of fractal shapes in the form of antennas. Without the self-similar, fractal shape itself, the most complex smart phones that operate like a computer would not have been possible.

These fractal antennas are essential, since they allow the phone to process complex computer systems in a much more efficient way. Most antennas are cut in a shape to accommodate for a specific range in frequency. However, fractal antennas are different in that they allow for the transmission of a wide range of electromagnetic frequencies, which most regular antennas do not. Without this function, we would not be able to process all the complex software in such a small size as smart phones today.

Fractals are considered shapes of sacred geometry, because such shapes hold extraordinary properties that can be applied to the reality. These fractal shapes which repeat in self-similarity transmit electromagnetic frequencies in a way that was not possible before this random breakthrough in technology.

Much like the chaos of the natural world, this particular invention was connected by a previously unknown order built upon what was once chaos.

What’s so important about sacred geometry? Read more with a look at the golden ratio and Harmonies of the Universe.

Fractal Antennas

Photo: endolith, Steve Jurvetson

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