Overview
In 1971, Iberall published
Towards a General Science of Viable Systems, which is one of his most-popular works
. Others include the 1974
Bridges in Science: from Physics to Social Science, the 1976
Nature, Life, Mind, and Society, the 1977
Physical Foundations for Socio-Economic Modeling for Transport Planning, and
the 1993
Foundations for Social and Biological Evolution: Progress toward a Physical Theory of Civilization and of Speciation. Iberall’s work has been cited by American social thermodynamicist
Douglas White.
Free energy
In 1971, Iberall, in his Toward a General Science of Viable Systems, and also his 1974 Bridges in Science: from Physics to Social Science, discussed Gibbs’ ensemble theory and thermodynamics functions of free energy, in the social science framework. [8]
Field thermodynamics | CHNOPS+ systems
In his three-part 1977-78 article series on “A Field and Circuit Thermodynamics for Integrative Physiology”, Iberall uses concepts from statistical mechanics to develop what he calls the subject of “field thermodynamics”, arguing that the Hamiltonian field concept unites the way change is viewed in both biology and physics. [4] In the second paper to this series he attempts to show how biological phenomena can be reduced to physical theory at any level of organization; the physical theory in question being comprised of thermostatics, thermodynamics of irreversible processes, statistical mechanics, and nonlinear mechanics. [5] In third part, he applies the model of the thermodynamics of Brownian motion to interactions in biological systems. [6]
Human thermodynamics education
In human thermodynamics education, Iberall taught courses on the thermodynamics of living systems for chemical engineering students in their thermodynamic study, including a two year seminar on the general physical science underlying all complex systems in nature for graduate students, faculty, and non academic well educated professionals, a physical foundation for comparative political systems, and physical foundations for social systems. [2] He sponsored by the Marshak colloquium which commonly gives its honors course as mathematics adaptable to the social sciences.
Iberall lectures
In 2003, the “Arthur Iberall Lecture Series”, was launched, hosted at Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut, with a fund of 50k USD, which has produced lectures by those including: Eugene Yates (2003), Douglas White (2008), Dilip Kondepudi (2010), Judith Rosen (2014) on the work of Robert Rosen, and a 2015 recognition talk on the work of Howard Pattee. [10]
Education
Iberall completed his BS in physics in 1940 and completed some mechanical engineering work in 1941, both at the City College of New York; from 1942 to 1945, he completed some graduate studies in physics, under George Gamow (his advisor) and Edward Teller, at George Washington University. In 1976, Iberall received an honorary Doctor of Science from Ohio State University for his achievements in interdisciplinary scientific research. [7]
In 1978, Iberall was a professor of physics at the City College of the City University of New York. He was a researcher at the University of California, Irvine, a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a distinguished annual lecturer at the Biomedical Engineering Society, and for ten years he was chief physicist at the Rand Development Corporation, focused on applied physical sciences for government and industry. He did biophysical research for the NASA exobiology program on the dynamic of mammalian physiological processes. His applied research has ranged broadly in measurement, mechanical instrumentation, high altitude research, hydrodynamic studies of flow fields, nonlinear fluid dynamics, arterial blood flow, the physics of turbulence, high speed electric power switching, and low loss cryogenics. [2]
Quotes | By
The following are quotes by Iberall:
“The potentials that drive the fluxes of the human social system, the most evident being the external and internal physical-chemical potentials, include a sheaf of potential-like components that represent the command-control system emergent as politics. On the whole, culture represents the social equivalent with the main processes of economics and politics being driven by a social pressure.”
— Arthur Iberall (1985), “Outlining Social Physics for Modern Societies” [9]
“Operationally extending the scope of a Navier-Stokes description of material flow fields, e.g. stars, atmospheres, plasmas, galaxies, vascular systems, etc., has become routine in physics. Its further extension, e.g. to societies, is now timely.”
— Arthur Iberall (1985), “Outlining Social Physics for Modern Societies” (compare: Ram Poudel) [9]
 |
| Description of Iberall from the 2007 Arthur S. Iberall Distinguished Lecture Series: on Life and the Sciences of Complexity. [3] |
References
1. Melko, Matthew, and Scott, Leighton R. (1987). The Boundaries of Civilization in Space and Time (pgs. 215-24). University Press of America.
2. Arthur S. Iberall – Trinity College, Ecological Psychology.
3. Kugler, Peter N. (2007). “Complex Systems, Self-Organization and Emergence through Measurement: A Study in Semantic Modeling”, Arthur S. Iberall Distinguished Lecture Series on Life and the Sciences of Complexity, Dec 07, University of Connecticut.
4. Iberall, A. S. (1977). “A Field and Circuit Thermodynamics for Integrative Physiology. I. Introduction to the General Notions.” American Journal of Physiology Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 233 : 171-180.
5. Iberall, A. S., Soodak H., and Hassler, F. (1978). “A field and Circuit Thermodynamics for Integrative Physiology. II. Power and Communication Spectroscopy in Biology.” American Journal of Physiology Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 234 : 3-19.
6. Iberall, Arthur S. (1978). “A field and Circuit Thermodynamics for Integrative Physiology. III. Keeping the Books-a General Experimental Method.” American Journal of Physiology Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 234 : 85-97.
7. Arthur Saul Iberall, renowned physicist (1918-2002) (obituary) – Trincoll.edu.
8. (a) Iberall, Arthur S. (1971). Toward a General Science of Viable Systems (Gibbs free energy, pg. 91). McGraw Hill.
(b) Iberall, Arthur. (1974). Bridges in Science: from Physics to Social Science (free energy, 54+ pgs.). General Technical Services.
9. Iberall, Arthur S. (1985). “Outlining Social Physics for Modern Societies: Locating Cultures, Economics, and Politics: the Enlightenment Reconsidered.” (abstract), Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 82(17): 5582-84.
10. Iberall Lecture Series – Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut.
Further reading
● Iberall, Arthur S. (1973). “On Growth, Form, and Function: A Fantasia on the Design of a Mammal”, Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, Sep.
● Iberall, A. S. (1975). “On Nature, Man, and Society: a Basis for Scientific Modelling”, Ann. Biomed. Eng. 3: 344-85.
● Iberall, A. and Soodak, H. (1978). “Physics Basis for Complex Systems: Some Propositions Relating Levels of Organization”, Collective Phenomena, 3: 9-24.
● Iberall, Arthur and Wilkinson, David. (1986). “From Systems Physics to World Politics: Invitation to an Enterprise”, in: Persistent Patterns and Emergent Structures in a Waning Century (editor: Margaret Karns) (§2:35-74) (Amz). Publisher.
● Soodak, H. and Iberall, A. (1987). “Thermodynamics of Complex Systems” (ch. 24: pgs. 459-69) and “A Physics for Complex Systems” (ch. 27: pgs. 499-520) in: Self-Organizing Systems: the Emergence of Order, Plenum.
● Iberall, Arthur, Wilkinson, David, White, Douglas. (1993). Foundations for Social and Biological Evolution: Towards a Physical Theory of Civilization and Speciation. Cri-de-Coeur Press.
External links
● Arthur Iberall – Wikipedia.
● Iberall, Arthur S. – WorldCat Identities.
In existographies, Arthur Iberall (1918-2002) (SN:31) (PR:5,000) (CR:39), aka “Ibby” (Ѻ), was an American physicist-engineer noted, in human thermodynamics, for a number of publications on defining social systems and the origins of civilizations from the point of view of physics, thermodynamics, and chemical engineering, a subject which he called "homeokinetics". [1] 