In theories, general systems theory, developed in circa 1950 by Austrian biologist Ludwig Bertalanffy, situates a general model of “systems” being a melting pot mixture of biology, information theory (from Claude Shannon), cybernetics (from Norbert Wiener), and bit of verbal thermodynamics, in an attempt to differentiate between open and closed systems. [1] The 1968 book General System Theory by Bertalanffy worked to migrate the subject to other areas of science to a large extent.

Influence
The book was one of the first to connect entropy, in very simple terms, to biological and social systems; late influencing those such as Dick Hammond and Kenneth Bailey, among others.

References
1. Boulding, Kenneth E. (1956). “General Systems Theory: the Skeleton of Science”, Management Science, 2: 197-208.
2. Bertalanffy, Ludwig. (1968). General Systems Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications (pgs. 39-44). New York: George Braziller.

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