More mil plastic surgery history: Gaston Julia, mathematician

BoingBoing reader Sven de Marothy writes,

Thanks for pointing out that interesting exhibition on WWI facial
reconstruction/prosthetics.

As a note, given the tech-savvy nature of BoingBoing,
it might be worth mentioning what's probably the most well-known
patient of such procedures (given the readership).

Namely Gaston Julia, the father of the famous Julia set fractal,
who quite literally had his nose shot off in WWI.

Most of the work he is now so famous for was performed
during the period while he was in hospital having his face put
back together, as best they could. However, he ended up wearing
a patch covering (what had been) his nose for the rest of his life.

Bio (with pic): Link.

He refused a discharge for his injury. Luckily for mathematics and
fractal-lovers, the war was over by the time he'd recovered. So he
published the results and the rest is history, as they say.

(It seems his military courage didn't go unrewarded though – in the
picture at the linked bio, it looks like he's wearing a Légion d'honneur
– France's highest honor.)

Below, a Julia set fractal.

Previously:
Project Facade: Post WWI surgical facial reconstruction