Ludwig von Bertalanffy


  • Von Bertalanffy born Vienna, 1901
    Father Gustav is a raliroad administrator
    home schooled, self-educated at Univ of Vienna
  • Von Bertalanffy married Maria, Vienna, 1925
  • Von Bertalanffy earns PhD with Schlick of the Vienna Circle, 1926.
    thesis on Fechner
  • Von Bertalanffy's first book, organicism, 1928,
    translated to English by Woodger, 1933
  • Von Bertalanffy promoted professor, Univ ofVienna, 1934
  • Von Bertalanffy spends one year at Univ of Chicago, 1937-38
    Awarded fellowship by Rockefeller Foundation
    Wanted to remain in US but nor permitted
  • Von Bertalanffy's second book, open systems, 1940
  • Von Bertalanffy leaves Vienna for good, 1948
    Wanders 13 years:
    Bern, London, Montreal, Ottawa, Stanford
    Los Angeles (3 yrs), Topeka (3 yrs), Buffalo
  • General Systems Theory created by Von Bertalanffy ca 1950
  • Book, General System Theory : a New Approach to Unity of Science, 1951
  • Book, Problems of Life; an Evaluation of Modern Biological Thought, 1952
  • Von Bertalanffy at Stanford with Gerard, Rapoport, and Boulding, 1954
  • Society for General Systems Research created, 1956, by Von Bertalanffy, Gerard, Rapoport, and Boulding
  • Von Bertalanffy to Alberta, 1961
  • Book, General Systems Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications, 1968
  • Von Bertalanffy to Buffalo, 1969
  • Von Bertalanffy dies, 1972

  • Revised 21 June 2002 by Ralph Abraham, <abraham@vismath.org>