The following is a list of the
most influential theorists in the field of cybernetics and
systems theory and related domains, with links to their
biographies, info about their work or their home page (for those
that are still alive). Their most important publications can be
found in our list of basic books and papers on the
domain. The role some of them played in the development of the field
is discussed in our history of cybernetics
and systems.
This list was provided as a special service to our readers, since
we noticed that the names of these people were among the most common
strings entered in our search engine.
Therefore, the list is directly searchable through the PCP title
search. The [find books] link after each name will give you a list
of books by or on the author, available through the Amazon web
bookshop and [Find Google] will find the most important webpages on
the author via the Google search
engine.
W. Ross Ashby
:psychiatrist; one of the founding fathers of cybernetics;
developed homeostat, law of requisite
variety, principle of
self-organization, and law of regulating models. Further info:
ASC
biography - Shalizi's notes - his book "Introduction to
Cybernetics" - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Henri Atlan
:studied self-organization in networks and cells. Further info:
home
page - biography (French) - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Gregory Bateson
:anthropologist; developed double bind theory, and looked at
parallels between mind and natural evolution. Further info: biography - ASC biography - the Tangled Web - Ecology of
Mind page - < [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Stafford Beer
:management cyberneticist; creator of the Viable System Model
(VSM). Further info: official
website - ASC
biography - ISSS primer - ISSS
luminaries - Team Syntegrity biography -[Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Kenneth E. Boulding
:economist; one of the founding fathers of general system
theory. Further info: ASC biography - ideas and works - dedication - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Donald T. Campbell
:social scientist, founded evolutionary epistemology and
quasi-experimental methodology. Further Info: PCP's In memoriam -
Special Issue of "Evolution and Cognition" - Influence on Organization Science - Obituary - Life - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Peter Checkland
:creator of soft systems methodology. Further info: home page - Profile - Soft Systems Methodology - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Jay Forrester
:engineer; creator of system dynamics, applications to the
modelling of industry development, cities and the world. Further
info: Home page - ASC biography - short bio - excerpts
from books and papers - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
George Klir
:mathematical systems theorist; creator of the General Systems
Problem Solver methodology for modelling. Further info: home page - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Niklas Luhmann
:sociologist; applied theory of autopoiesis to social systems.
Further info: Obituary - Obituary2 - philosophy - bibliography - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Humberto Maturana
:biologist; creator together with F. Varela of the theory of
autopoiesis. Further info: ASC biography - photo - contribution
to psychology and complexity theory - biology of
cognition - Ecology of
Mind page - short
bio - The Observer Web: autopoiesis theory - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Warren McCulloch
:neurophysiologist; first to develop mathematical models of
neural networks. Further info: ASC biography - McCulloch and Pitts neurons - von Foerster's tribute - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
James Grier Miller
:biologist, creator of Living Systems Theory (LST). Further
info: living
systems theory - Living System Model - intro to Miller's LST - Miller on "The Earth as
a System" - Applications of LST - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Edgar Morin
:sociologist, developed a general transdisplinary "method":
Further info: biography - summary - interview - bibliography - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Howard T. Odum
:creator of systems ecology: Further info: biography -
home page - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Gordon Pask
:creator of conversation theory: second order cybernetic
concepts and applications to education. Further info: Pangaro's archive - In
Memoriam - ISSS
luminaries - ASC
biography - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Howard Pattee
:theoretical biologist; studied hierarchy and semantic closure
in organisms. Further info: home page - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
William T. Powers
:engineer; creator of perceptual control theory. Further info:
home page - introduction to
perceptual control theory - definition of
control - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Ilya Prigogine
:Nobel Prize in chemistry; studied thermodynamical
self-organization, irreversibility and dissipative structures.
Further info: home page - home page2 - autobiography - Shalizi's notebooks - Curriculum Vitae - various links -[Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Robert Rosen
:theoretical biologist; first studied anticipatory systems,
proposed category theoretic, non-mechanistic model of living
systems. Further info: Requiem - bibliography - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Claude Shannon
:founder of information theory. Further info: biography - biography 2 - History of mathematics biography - biography4 - a personal biography -
biography and achievements - Shannon's information theory - photos - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Herbert A. Simon:
:Nobel prize in economics, made fundamental contributions to
Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Psychology, Management,
philosophy of science, and complex systems. Further Info: - Home
Page - Obituary - another home page - autobiography - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Francisco Varela
:biologist; creator, together with H. Maturana of the theory of
autopoiesis. Further info: biography - The Observer Web: autopoiesis theory - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Ludwig von Bertalanffy
:biologist; founder of General System Theory. Further info:
biography - 100th
Birthday celebration - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Ernst von Glasersfeld
:psychologist; proponent of radical constructivism. Further
info: biography
& contact info - SRRI biography - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Heinz von Foerster
:one of the founding fathers of cybernetics; first to study
self-organization, self-reference and other circularities; creator
of second-order
cybernetics. Further info: overview - biographical
interview - Varela's personal introduction - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google][Find in Google]>
John von Neumann
:mathematician; founding father in the domains of ergodic
theory, game theory, quantum logic, axioms of quantum mechanics,
the digital computer, cellular automata and self-reproducing
systems. Further info: biography - bio with bibliography -History of mathematics biography - biography3 - biography4 - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google][Find in Google]>
Paul Watzlawick
:psychiatrist; studied role of paradoxes in communication.
Further info: ASC biography - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]
Norbert Wiener
:mathematician; founder of cybernetics. Further info: ideas - biography - Shalizi's notes - Notices of the AMS bio - bio (mathematicians) - MathematicalWork - his
Cybernetic Delirium - his activism - in K.
Kelly's "Out of Control" - memoir - [Find
Books] - [Find
in Google]See also: