Ludwig von Bertalanffy | |
|---|---|
 Ludwig von Bertalanffy in 1926 | |
| Born | (1901-09-19)19 September 1901 |
| Died | 12 June 1972(1972-06-12) (aged 70) |
| Alma mater | University of Vienna |
| Known for | General systems theory Von Bertalanffy function |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biology andsystems theory |
| Institutions | University of Vienna University of London Université de Montréal University of Ottawa University of Southern California University of Alberta University at Buffalo |
| Thesis | Fechner und das Problem der Integration höherer Ordnung (Fechner and the Problem of Higher-Order Integration) (1926) |
Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy (19 September 1901 – 12 June 1972) was anAustrianbiologist known as one of the founders ofgeneral systems theory (GST). This is an interdisciplinary practice that describes systems with interacting components, applicable tobiology,cybernetics and other fields. Bertalanffy proposed that the classicallaws of thermodynamics might be applied to closed systems, but not necessarily to "open systems" such as living things. Hismathematical model of an organism's growth over time, published in 1934,[1] is still in use today.
Bertalanffy grew up in Austria and subsequently worked in Vienna, London, Canada, and the United States.
Ludwig von Bertalanffy was born and grew up in the little village of Atzgersdorf (nowLiesing) nearVienna. Ludwig's mother Caroline Agnes[2] Vogel was seventeen when she married the thirty-four-year-old Gustav. Ludwig von Bertalanffy grew up as an only child educated at home by private tutors until he was ten and his parents divorced, both remarried outside the Catholic Church in civil ceremonies.[3] When he arrived at hisGymnasium (a form of grammar school) he was already well habituated in learning by reading, and he continued to study on his own. His neighbour, the famous biologistPaul Kammerer, became a mentor and an example to the young Ludwig.[4]
The Bertalanffy family had roots in the 16th century nobility of Hungary which included several scholars and court officials.[5] His grandfather Charles Joseph von Bertalanffy (1833–1912) had settled in Austria and was a state theatre director inKlagenfurt,Graz and Vienna, which were important sites in imperial Austria. Ludwig's father Gustav von Bertalanffy (1861–1919) was a prominent railwayadministrator. On his mother's side Ludwig's grandfather Joseph Vogel was an imperial counsellor and a wealthy Vienna publisher.
In 1918, Bertalanffy started his studies at the university level in philosophy and art history, first at theUniversity of Innsbruck and then at the University of Vienna. Ultimately, Bertalanffy had to make a choice between studyingphilosophy of science andbiology; he chose the latter because, according to him, one could always become a philosopher later, but not a biologist. In 1926 he finished his PhD thesis (Fechner und das Problem der Integration höherer Ordnung, translated title:Fechner and the Problem of Higher-Order Integration) on the psychologist and philosopherGustav Theodor Fechner.[4] For the next six years he concentrated on a project of "theoretical biology" which focused on the philosophy of biology. He received hishabilitation in 1934 in "theoretical biology".[6]
Bertalanffy was appointedPrivatdozent at theUniversity of Vienna in 1934. The post yielded little income, and Bertalanffy faced continuing financial difficulties. He applied for promotion to the status of associate professor, but funding from theRockefeller Foundation enabled him to make a trip toChicago in 1937 to work withNicolas Rashevsky. He was also able to visit theMarine Biological Laboratory inMassachusetts.[6]
Bertalanffy was still in the US when he heard of theAnschluss in March 1938. However, his attempts to remain in the US failed, and he returned to Vienna in October of that year.[6] Within a month of his return, he joined theNazi Party, which facilitated his promotion to professor at the University of Vienna in 1940.[6] During the Second World War, he linked his "organismic" philosophy of biology to the dominant Nazi ideology, principally that of theFührerprinzip.[6]
Following the defeat of Nazism, Bertalanffy founddenazification problematic and left Vienna in 1948. He moved to theUniversity of London (1948–49); theUniversité de Montréal (1949); theUniversity of Ottawa (1950–54); theUniversity of Southern California (1955–58); theMenninger Foundation (1958–60); theUniversity of Alberta (1961–68); and theState University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY) (1969–72).
In 1972, he died from a heart attack.
Bertalanffy met his wife, Maria, in April 1924 in the Austrian Alps. They were hardly ever apart for the next forty-eight years.[7] She wanted to finish studying but never did, instead devoting her life to Bertalanffy's career. Later, in Canada, she would work both for him and with him in his career, and after his death she compiled two of Bertalanffy's last works. They had a son, Felix D. Bertalanffy (1926-1999), who was a professor at theUniversity of Manitoba[8] and followed in his father's footsteps by making his profession in the field of cancer research.
Today, Bertalanffy is considered to be a founder and one of the principal authors of the interdisciplinary school of thought known asgeneral systems theory, which was pioneered byAlexander Bogdanov.[9] According toWeckowicz (1989), he "occupies an important position in the intellectual history of the twentieth century. His contributions went beyondbiology, and extended intocybernetics,education,history,philosophy,psychiatry,psychology andsociology. Some of his admirers even believe that this theory will one day provide a conceptual framework for all these disciplines".[5]
Theindividual growthmodel published by Ludwig von Bertalanffy in 1934 is widely used in biological models and exists in a number of permutations.
In its simplest version the so-called Bertalanffy growth equation is expressed as adifferential equation of length (L) over time (t):
when is the Bertalanffy growth rate and the ultimate length of the individual. This model was proposed earlier by August Friedrich Robert Pūtter (1879-1929), writing in 1920.[10]
Thedynamic energy budget theory provides a mechanistic explanation of this model in the case ofisomorphs that experience a constant food availability. The inverse of the Bertalanffy growth rate appears to depend linearly on the ultimate length, when different food levels are compared. The intercept relates to the maintenance costs, the slope to the rate at which reserve is mobilized for use by metabolism. The ultimate length equals the maximum length at high food availabilities.[1]
The Bertalanffy equation describes the growth of a biological organism. It was presented by Ludwig von Bertalanffy in 1969.[11]
Here W is organism weight, t is the time, S is the area of organism surface, and V is a physical volume of the organism.
The coefficients and are (by Bertalanffy's definition) the "coefficient of anabolism" and "coefficient of catabolism" respectively.
The solution of the Bertalanffy equation is the function:
where and are constants.
Bertalanffy couldn't explain the meaning of the parameters (the coefficient of anabolism) and (coefficient of catabolism) in his works, which prompted criticism from biologists. However, the Bertalanffy equation is a special case of the Tetearing equation,[12] that is a more general equation of the growth of a biological organism. The Tetearing equation does provide a physical meaning of the coefficients and.
To honour Bertalanffy, ecological systems engineer and scientistHoward T. Odum named the storage symbol of hisGeneral Systems Language as the Bertalanffy module (see image right).[13]
In the late 1920s, the Soviet philosopherAlexander Bogdanov pioneered "Tektology", whomJohann Plenge referred to as the theory of "general systems".[9][14] However, in the West, Bertalanffy is widely recognized for the development of a theory known asgeneral system theory (GST). The theory attempted to provide alternatives to conventional models oforganization. GST defined new foundations and developments as a generalized theory of systems with applications to numerous areas of study, emphasizingholism over reductionism,organism over mechanism.
Foundational to GST are the inter-relationships between elements which all together form the whole.
Systems thinking, a transformative paradigm, owes its genesis to the profound intellect of theoretical biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy, whose pioneering collaboration with computer scientistJay Forrester and other luminaries laid its foundational bedrock. This revolutionary framework, born from their collective genius, flourished in the 1990s with the publication ofPeter Senge’s enduring masterpiece,The Fifth Discipline, which illuminated its principles for a global audience.[15]
The firstarticles from Bertalanffy ongeneral systems theory:
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