Dr. Ian Malcolm is key figure in the Jurassic Park universe. The character of Ian Malcolm functions as the "ironic commentator inside the story who talks about the action as it takes place. He is a mathematician at the Santa Fe Institute who specializes in chaos theory. His character is based on both Ivar Ekeland and James Gleick. Malcolm's all-black clothing style reflects that of Heinz-Otto Peitgen, a mathematician who wrote a richly illustrated book on fractals.