Abraham Moles (19 August 1920 – 22 May 1992) was a pioneer in

information science Information science (also known as information studies) is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval, movement, dissemination, and protection of information. ...

and

communication studies Communication studies or communication science is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in different ...

in France, He was a professor at Ulm school of design and

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

. He is known for his work on

kitsch Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation wi ...

Biography

Moles studied electrical and

acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acousticia ...

engineering at the

University of Grenoble The Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA, French: meaning "''Grenoble Alps University''") is a public research university in Grenoble, France. Founded in 1339, it is the third largest university in France with about 60,000 students and over 3,000 re ...

while preparing a bachelor in sciences of nature. He became a research assistant at the Laboratory of metal physics, under the direction of Félix Esclangon, then of Louis Néel. There he learned techniques of metal work, then electric and electronic tools. He wrote reports on material properties or technical analysis. At the end of the Second World War, he was hired by the French National Centre for Scientific Research in the Laboratory of acoustics and vibrations of

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

, and at the CRSIM (Centre de recherche scientifique industriel et maritime). In 1952, he obtained a PhD in physics for a thesis titled La structure physique du signal musical et phonétique''' (under the direction of René Lucas, Edmond Bauer, Henri Pieron and the physiologist Alexandre Monnier). He then participated to the works of the Centre d’études de la radio-télévision (directed by

Jean Tardieu Jean Tardieu (born in Saint-Germain-de-Joux, Ain, 1 November 1903, died in Créteil, Val-de-Marne, 27 January 1995) was a French artist, musician, poet and dramatic author. Life and career He earned a degree in literature and worked for a pub ...

), and was a member of Pierre Schaeffer's team. But due to his financial precarity, he accepted two grants of the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropy, philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, aft ...

, in order to work at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

(Music Department headed by Vladimir Ussachevsky). In 1954, he defended a second PhD, in philosophy, under the title "''La création scientifique",'' under the direction of Bachelard. From 1954 to 1960, Abraham Moles was the director of the Laboratoire d’électroacoustique Scherchen, in

Gravesano Gravesano is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. History Gravesano is first mentioned in 1254 as ''de Gravaxana''. Gravesano also includes the hamlet of Grumo, that was home to a medieval castle that ...

, Switzerland. It was directed by Hermann Scherchen, one of the pioneers of Radio Berlin, who had discovered composers as famous as Luciano Berio, Iannis Xenakis, Bruno Maderna, Luigi Nono. At the same time, Abraham Moles was teaching at the

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart (german: Universität Stuttgart) is a leading research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany wi ...

(with

Max Bense Max Bense (7 February 1910 in Strasbourg – 29 April 1990 in Stuttgart) was a German philosopher, writer, and publicist, known for his work in philosophy of science, logic, aesthetics, and semiotics. His thoughts combine natural sciences, art, and ...

), of Bonn, of Berlin and of Utrecht. He was finally appointed as a full professor at the Ulm School of Design. After 1966, he taught in Strasbourg (in the department created by Henri Lefebvre), first in sociology, then in social psychology. He created there an Institute for social psychology of communications, usually called ''École de Strasbourg''. He developed an article
Art et ordinateur
(1970) into the book ''Art et ordinateur'' (1971). transposing the theories of Shannon to aesthetics. His 1973 book, ''Théorie de l'information et perception esthétique (Information Theory and Esthetic Perception)'' expanded on his 1952 PhD work with music to show how an aesthetic work such as a piece of composed music was structurally made up of nested and increasingly fine sub-components which, upon auditioning, are then grouped perceptually to make a whole phrase, passage and composition. His work of this period was influential in that it allowed a link to be made between physicalist and semiotic approaches to information theory. He is a founding member of ''L’Académie nationale des arts de la rue'' (ANAR) created in 1975 with

Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet (21 August 1906 – 11 April 1996) was a French entrepreneur and advertising magnate best known as the founder of Publicis Groupe. He is also credited with inventing radio advertising in France, helped create the first ...

, Jacques Dauphin, Paul Delouvrier, Georges Elgozy,

Roger Excoffon Roger Excoffon (7 September 1910 – 30 May 1983) was a French typeface designer and graphic designer. Excoffon was born in Marseille, studied law at the University of Aix-en-Provence, and then moved to Paris to apprentice in a print shop. ...

, Maurice Cazeneuve, and André Parinaud.
L'Ilec. He was the president of the French Society of Cybernetics, founded by Louis Couffignal.

Selected work

* ''Physique et technique du bruit'', Paris, Dunod, 1952 * ''La Création scientifique'', Genève, Kister, 1957 * ''Musiques expérimentales'', Zurich, Cercle d'art, 1961 * ''Communications et langages'', (en collaboration avec B. Vallancien), Paris, Gauthier-Villars, 1963 * ''Phonétique et phonation'', (en collaboration avec B. Vallancien) Paris, Masson, 1966 * ''L'affiche dans la société urbaine'', Paris, Dunod, 1969 * ''Créativité et méthodes d'innovation'', Paris, Fayard, 1970 * ''Art et ordinateur'', Paris, Casterman, 1971 * ''Psychologie du Kitsch'', Paris, Denoël, 1971 * ''Théorie des objets'', Paris, Ed. Universitaires, 1972 * ''Psychologie de l'espace'', (En collaboration avec Élisabeth Rohmer), Paris, Casterman, 1972 * ''Théorie de l'information et perception esthétique'', Paris, Denoël, 1973 (

Information Theory Information theory is the scientific study of the quantification, storage, and communication of information. The field was originally established by the works of Harry Nyquist and Ralph Hartley, in the 1920s, and Claude Shannon in the 1940s. ...

and aesthetical perception) * ''Sociodynamique de la culture'', Paris, Mouton, 1973 * ''La Communication'', Paris, Marabout, 1973 * ''Micropsychologie et vie quotidienne'', (En collaboration avec Élisabeth Rohmer), Paris, Denoël, 1976 * ''Théorie des actes'', (En collaboration avec Élisabeth Rohmer), Paris, Casterman, 1977 * ''L'image, communication fonctionnelle'', Paris, Casterman, 1981 * ''Labyrinthes du vécu'', Paris, Klincksieck, 1982 * ''Théorie structurale de la communication et société, Paris, Masson, 1986 * ''Les sciences de l'imprécis'', (En collaboration avec Élisabeth Rohmer), Paris, Seuil, 1990 * ''Psychosociologie de l'espace'', (En collaboration avec Élisabeth Rohmer), textes rassemblés, mis en forme et présentés par Victor Schwach, Paris, L'Harmattan, 1998

External links

*
Abraham Moles at the Association Internationale de Micropsychologie et de Psychologie Sociale des Communications
*

Google Scholar: Numerous scientific articles referencing the work of Moles
* ''Notices d'autorité'' : Fichier d’autorité international virtuel �
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Bibliothèque nationale de Francedonnées
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Bibliothèque royale des Pays-Bas
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Bibliothèque nationale de Catalogne
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WorldCat
* (fr

rchive/small> * (fr

small> rchive/small> * Abraham Moles & Élisabeth Rohmer, 1996
« Le cursus scientifique d'Abraham Moles. Autobiographie »
small> rchive/small>. ''Bulletin de micropsychologie'', nº 28. * Michel Mathien & Victor Schwach, 1992
« De l'ingénieur à l'humaniste : l'œuvre d'Abraham Moles »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communication et langages'', nº 93, p. 84-98.

Online texts

* 1992
« Vilem Flusser, un philosophe des Sudètes »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communication et langages'', nº91, p. 112-114. * 1990 (avec Claude Lefèvre)
''El paisaje urbano como fuente de conocimiento''
small> rchive/small> (''Le paysage urbain comme source de connaissances''). Barcelona : Paidós. * 1989
« Una novedad museográfica : El Museo de Antropología de Xalapa »
small> rchive/small>. ''Graffiti'', nº1 * 1988
« Dire le monde et le transcrire »
small> rchive/small>.''Communication et langages'', nº76, p. 68-77. * 1988
« El concepte funcionalista del Bauhaus en la societat del miracle econòmic, la Hochschule für Gestaltung d'Ulm 1 »
small> rchive/small>. ''Temes de disseny'', ISSN 0213-6023, nº2 (« Diseño, Comunicación, Cultura ») * 1986
« Livre simple, livre complexe, où se situe la fonction éditoriale ? »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communication et langages'', nº67, p. 89-104. * 1980
« Le livre et les éditeurs »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communication et langages'', nº45, p. 82-96. * 1979
« Quelques axiomes communicationnels de la société de masse »
small> rchive/small>.''Communication et langages'', nº41-42, p. 170-171. * 1979
« Petite analyse du contenu des articles de Communication et langages »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communication et langages'', nº41-42, p. 7-9. * 1978
« Biblioteca pessoal ; biblioteca universal »
small> rchive/small>. ''Revista de Biblioteconomia de Brasília'', Vol. 6, nº1. * 1978
« Structuralisme et miniature persane »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communication et langages'', nº40, p. 7-13. * 1978
« Du sein féminin »
''Senologia'', vol. 3, nº2, p. 35-37 * 1978
« L'image et le texte »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communication et langages'', nº38, p. 17-29. * 1972
« Notes pour une typologie des événements »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communications'', nº18 (« L'événement »), p. 90-96. * 1971
« Qu'est-ce que le Kitsch ? »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communication et langages'', nº9, 1971. p. 74-87. * 1970
« Art et ordinateur »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communication et langages'', nº7, p. 24-33. * 1969
« Sociodynamique et politique d'équipement culturel dans la société urbaine »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communications'', nº14 (« La politique culturelle »), p. 137-149. * 1969
« La situation sociale de l'affiche »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communication et langages'', nº4, p. 73-82. * 1969
« Objet et communication »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communications'', nº13 (« Les objets »), p. 1-21. * 1969
« Théorie de la complexité et civilisation industrielle »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communications'', nº13 (« Les objets »), p. 51-63. * 1969
« Kitsch et objet »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communications'', nº13 (« Les objets »), p. 105-129. * 1966
« La radio-télévision au service de la promotion socio-culturelle »
small> rchive/small>. ''Communications'', nº7 (« Radio-télévision : réflexions et recherches »). p. 1-10. * 1966
« Liberté principale, liberté marginale, liberté interstitielle »
small> rchive/small>. ''Revue française de sociologie'', vol. 7, nº2. p. 229-232. * 1965
« Produkte: ihre funktionelle und strukturelle Komplexität »
small> rchive/small>. ''Allgemeine Designtheorie''. paru en 1961 en français « La notion de quantité en cybernétique ». ''Les études philosophiques''. Nº2 (avril-juin).

Conference

* 1986
« L'expérience du Bauhaus après la Deuxième Guerre Mondiale: l'École d'Ulm »
small> rchive/small>. Conférence donnée à la VII^e Setmana Cultural de l'ETSAB (10-13 février 1986). Malgré les problèmes techniques. En français, avec traduction espagnole.

Other works

* 1952. ''Physique et technique du bruit'', Paris, Dunod * 1957. ''La création scientifique'', Genève, Kister * 1961. ''Musiques expérimentales'', Zurich, Cercle d'art * 1963. ''Communications et langages'' (en collaboration avec B. Vallancien), Paris, Gauthier-Villars * 1966. ''Phonétique et phonation'' (en collaboration avec B. Vallancien) Paris, Masson * 1969. ''L'affiche dans la société urbaine'', Paris, Dunod * 1970. ''Créativité et méthodes d'innovation'', Paris, Fayard * 1971. ''Art et ordinateur'', Paris, Casterman * 1971. ''La communication'', Les dictionnaires du savoir moderne (ouvrage collectif sous la direccion d'Abraham Moles et Claude Zeltmann), Paris * 1972. ''Théorie des objets'', Paris, Éditions universitaires * 1972. ''Psychologie de l'espace'' (en collaboration avec Élisabeth Rohmer), Paris, Casterman * 1973. ''Théorie de l'information et perception esthétique'', Paris, Denoël * 1973. ''Sociodynamique de la culture'', Paris, Mouton * 1973. ''La communication'', Paris, Marabout * 1976. ''Micropsychologie et vie quotidienne'' (en collaboration avec Élisabeth Rohmer), Paris, Denoël * 1977. ''Théorie des actes'' (en collaboration avec Élisabeth Rohmer), Paris, Casterman * 1981. ''L'image, communication fonctionnelle'', Paris, Casterman * 1982. ''Labyrinthes du vécu'', Paris, Klincksieck * 1986. ''Théorie structurale de la communication et société, Paris, Masson'' * 1990. ''Les sciences de l'imprécis'' (en collaboration avec Élisabeth Rohmer), Paris, Seuil * 1998. ''Psychosociologie de l'espace'' (en collaboration avec Élisabeth Rohmer), textes rassemblés, mis en forme et présentés par Victor Schwach, Paris, L'Harmattan

Notes and references

# �
Notice d'autorité personne
small> rchive/small> sur le site du catalogue général de la BnF # ↑ Cf. Martial Robert, 1999, p. 138. ''Pierre Schaeffer, des transmissions à Orphée''. Paris, L'Harmattan, 416 p. # ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150220050452/http://www.esprit68.org/misere.html rchive/small> # �
catalogue.bibliothequedesociologie.cnrs.fr
small> rchive/small>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moles, Abraham 20th-century French engineers 1920 births 1992 deaths French non-fiction writers French male non-fiction writers 20th-century non-fiction writers Cyberneticists 20th-century French male writers 20th-century French inventors