Feigenbaums

Feigenbaums is a German-language surname. The root Feigenbaum combines Feige (fig) and Baum (tree), and the plural form Feigenbaums is used in German to refer to a family with that surname or to multiple individuals bearing the name. In English-language contexts the surname is typically written Feigenbaum, while the form Feigenbaums may appear when referring to the family as a unit.

The surname originates from nature- or location-based naming common in German-speaking regions. It is found among German-speaking populations and their descendants, including Ashkenazi Jewish communities, with significant presence in the United States, Israel, and Europe due to migration in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Prominent bearers include Edward A. Feigenbaum (born 1936), an American computer scientist and AI pioneer known for co-developing expert systems such as DENDRAL and for advancing knowledge-based systems; and Mitchell J. Feigenbaum (1944–2019), an American theoretical physicist who identified the universal constants describing the onset of chaos in dynamical systems, now known as the Feigenbaum constants.

The name is closely associated with the Feigenbaum constants in chaos theory, named after Mitchell Feigenbaum. See also Feigenbaum (surname) for broader information on its origins and notable bearers.