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Frederic Vester (November 23, 1925 – November 2, 2003) was a Germanbiochemist, and an expert in the field ofecology.[1][2]
Vester was born inSaarbrücken, and studiedchemistry at the universities ofMainz,Paris andHamburg. From 1955 to 1957, he was postdoctoral fellow atYale University,[3] andCambridge. From 1957 to 1966 he worked atSaarland University,Saarbrücken, and from 1969 he worked inMunich, first at theMax Planck Institute. In 1970 he founded the private Munich-basedFrederic Vester Studiengruppe für Biologie und Umwelt GmbH ("Frederic Vester Study Group for Biology and Environment, Ltd.), renamedFrederic Vester GmbH ("Frederic Vester, Ltd.") after his death.
From 1982 to 1989 he was aprofessor at theBundeswehr University Munich, and from 1989 to 1991 he was Professor forApplied Economics at theHochschule St. Gallen,Switzerland. Vester's ideas influenced the formation of theenvironmental movement and theGreen Party in Germany. He was a member of theClub of Rome. He was married to Anne Vester. The couple had three children and six grandchildren. He died in Munich.
Vester was known as pioneer of networked thinking, a combination ofcybernetic andsystemic ideas andcomplexity.[3] Central ideas of network thinking include viewing a system as a network of interrelated effects, leading toemergent behavior of the system as a whole. These networks can be described by using protocols, mathematical networks, computer software, so that even someone with the most basic understanding of networks will see relations, including positive and negativefeedback loops.Simulations of systemic networks can help to decide the long-term effects ofsingular measures.
Vester'sSensitivity Model combines these ideas, and has been used since the 1980s in studies byFord,UNESCO and other organizations.
Most of Vesters books were published in German as well as in other languages, though seldom in English. A list of his works includes:
Vester is also the author of the software toolSensitivity model and of several cybernetic games:
