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Arthur S. Iberall (June 12, 1918 – December 8, 2002) was an American physicist/hydrodynamicist and engineer who pioneered
homeokinetics Homeokinetics is the study of self-organizing, complex systems.Iberall, A.S., Homeokinetics: The Basics. Strong Voices Publishing, 2016.Iberall, A. and Soodak, H.: A physics for complex systems. In F. Yates, (ed.), Self-Organizing Systems, pp. 49 ...
, the physics of complex, self-organizing systems. He was the originator of the concept of lines of non-extension on the human body which was used to create workable space suits.


Biography

Arthur S. Iberall was born in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
. His mother, Anna Katz, immigrated to the United States from Kaunas, Lithuania. His father, Benjamin Iberall, immigrated from Warsaw, Poland. He had one sibling, psychologist Rosalind Rothman. He married Helene Rubenstein (1913-2016) in 1940, and they had four daughters, Eleanora I. Robbins, Penni I. Rubin, Thea Iberall, and Valerie I. O'Connor. Iberall studied at
City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...
, where he received a BS in
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which rel ...
in 1940 and then continued by studying
mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...
. From 1942-1945, he worked on an MS under George Gamow and Edward Teller at
George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...
. From 1941 to 1953, Iberall worked at the National Bureau of Standards in
Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
. In 1953, he left government work and worked in the private sector at ARO (1954) and the Rand Development Corporation (1954-1964). In 1964, he started General Technical Services with
Samuel Z. Cardon Samuel Z. Cardon (November 24, 1918 – December 28, 1996) was a chemist and scientist entrepreneur who worked primarily for U.S. government agencies in need of technical forecasting. Biography Samuel Cardon lived in Bratenahl, Ohio and was ma ...
in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. In 1976, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...
in recognition of his achievements in interdisciplinary scientific research. At the invitation of
F. Eugene Yates Francis Eugene Yates (February 26, 1927 – January 20, 2015) was an American physiologist and a professor of medicine and medical engineering at University of California Los Angeles. Biography Eugene Yates was born in Eagle Rock, California ...
, Iberall joined the UCLA Crump Institute for Medical Engineering. From 1981 to 1985, Iberall was a Crump Visiting Scholar where he did research and taught. In 1991, he retired and started publishing with Cri-de-Coeur Press. Retrieved November 24, 2016 Iberall died in 2002 from congestive heart failure.


Work

Under the leadership of William G. Brombacher at the National Bureau of Standards, Iberall worked on instrument theory, safety equipment, and measurement problems such as the physics of the
atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. ...
. At that time, the
US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
and US Air Force were creating aircraft that could travel further and further into the upper atmosphere. Pilots were being affected at the higher altitudes, which led to funding of studies of human physiology in order to understand how the body responds to high G forces and reduced oxygen. He also worked on the development of a new breathing apparatus that led to undersea
scuba Scuba may refer to: * Scuba diving ** Scuba set, the equipment used for scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving * Scuba, an in-memory database developed by Facebook * Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array Two instruments ...
innovations. Retrieved November 24, 2016 At the Rand Development Corporation, Retrieved November 24, 2016 Iberall worked on engineering and physics problems. Along with chemist
Samuel Z. Cardon Samuel Z. Cardon (November 24, 1918 – December 28, 1996) was a chemist and scientist entrepreneur who worked primarily for U.S. government agencies in need of technical forecasting. Biography Samuel Cardon lived in Bratenahl, Ohio and was ma ...
, he solved technical problems for businesses such as Cleveland Pneumatic Tool Co. Westinghouse, Sherwin-Williams, Illinois Tool Works, Ohio Brass Co., and
Industrial Fasteners Institute The Industrial Fasteners Institute (IFI) is an American non-profit Trade association, trade and standards organization and publisher, based in Independence, Ohio. It was founded as the American Institute of Bolt, Nut and Rivet Manufacturers in 19 ...
. They also worked on technical issues such as the analysis of waters of the US for the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, engineering for military applications for the
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, c ...
and high altitude research and full pressure altitude suits for the
USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
. At General Technical Services, Iberall and Cardon solved problems such as physiological responses of mammals to high pressure and flow in arteries for
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
, water pollution for the Public Health Service. For
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, c ...
commands, they did research on oscillators, clothing design, technical forecasting, planning, systems science applications, cybernetics and computer applications, autonomous systems, and survival of complex systems. For the Office of Naval Research, they worked on inertial guidance systems, hydrodynamics equations, fluid dynamics. Other work included dosage radiation factors for the Atomic Energy Commission, systems science applications for the United States Department of Transportation, complex systems interactions for the National Institute of Aging, and mobile pressure suits for the US Air Force. At the UCLA Crump Institute, Iberall joined the Complex Systems Group which attracted professors from many universities and federal agencies to learn how to incorporate systems science into diverse fields. He also taught courses on the thermodynamics of living systems for chemical engineering students, which was sponsored by the Marshak Colloquium of UCLA.


Contributions


Space Suits and Lines of Non-Extension

In 1947, Iberall began work at NBS on pressure suits for the US Air Force and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. They recognized that astronauts had to be protected from expansive forces. Iberall developed one of the first space suits to solve this problem; his first approximation was to use netting (linknet) to help the suit maintain form. The ultimate solution came from an analysis of the lines of non-extension (LONE),Iberall, A.S., "The experimental design of a mobile pressure suit", Journal of Basic Engineering, Transactions of the ASME, June 1970, p. 251-264 i.e. the parts of the body that did not move much so the suit did not need special treatment there. Astronaut Scott Crossfield flew the X-15 in this suit, as did astronauts on Gemini missions between 1962-64. The Federal Government required that business interests take over further development and production for commercial applications, so the David Clark Company won the contract for space suit design and eventually took design in another direction. Years later, Dava Newman at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...
has her students following up on LONE as a design for the next generation of space suits.https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/605364main_DNewman_NIAC_2011_TAGGED.pdf The design of a space suit needed a deep understanding of physiology. As Iberall was studying this problem, his oldest daughter got polio and he went searching for the most innovative ideas to save the functioning of her afflicted leg. He found
Rene Cailliet Rene Cailliet, M.D., (June 10, 1917 - March 14, 2015) was an American physician of French ancestry best known for a very popular series of books on musculoskeletal medicine. Personal life Rene Cailliet was born in Philadelphia on June 10, 1917. He ...
, a newly minted MD at the Kabat-Kaiser Institute who taught Iberall physiology. Later, as a Professor of Medicine at UCLA, Cailliet went on to become the author of the widely known series of textbooks on musculoskeletal medicine, and some of his earliest ideas thereby became incorporated into space suit design. Iberall also learned physiology from his mentor, neurophysiologist and cybernetician Warren S. McCulloch. As they worked on biophysical research for the NASA exobiology program analyzing the dynamics of mammalian physiological processes, initial ideas that would become
homeokinetics Homeokinetics is the study of self-organizing, complex systems.Iberall, A.S., Homeokinetics: The Basics. Strong Voices Publishing, 2016.Iberall, A. and Soodak, H.: A physics for complex systems. In F. Yates, (ed.), Self-Organizing Systems, pp. 49 ...
began to emerge. In 1967, they performed a complete systems analysis of the daily activities that constitute human behavior.


Homeokinetics—The Physics of Complex Systems

Homeokinetics is the study of complex systems—universes, galaxies, social systems, people, or even systems that seem as simple as gases.Iberall, A.S., Homeokinetics: The Basics. Strong Voices Publishing, 2016. The entire universe is modelled as atomistic-like units bound in interactive ensembles that form systems, level by level in a nested hierarchy.Soodak H. and A.S. Iberall, "Homeokinetics: A physical science for complex systems", Science 201:579, 1978. Homeokinetics treats all complex systems on an equal footing, both animate and inanimate, providing them with a common viewpoint. The complexity in studying how they work is reduced by the emergence of common languages for all complex systems. Life, birth, and death of complex systems are bound in hierarchical processes that have both side-side and in-out components. In common with the simpler counterparts, complex systems exhibit rest phases, smooth or creeping flows, turbulence, and chaotic phases; they alternate in storminess and placidity, as well as in their intermittence and changeability. While working at NBS on the problem of humans in high altitude space, Iberall was led into more and more interdisciplinary research using kinetic theory to develop instrumentation covering the major variables of pressure, temperature, density, and flow, both steady state and dynamically changing. Working on the applied problems of the aircraft industry, meteorology, and high altitude military led to his studies of high speed so-called speed-of-sound rates of flow, to more than one phase flow (e.g., gases and liquids), two or more stream flow theory, metastability, solid state metals research both for steady state loads and dynamic (or changing) states. This irrevocably led to the problem of turbulence as distinguished from laminar flow. That also led to the full Navier-Stokes equation set, a nonlinear high ordered mathematical physical construct that still leaves much to be desired in solution. From a homeokinetic perspective, these Navier-Stokes equations connect the lower level atomistic-like components with the upper level collective processes in the material-energetic substance. It was through these interdisciplinary explorations that Iberall’s definition of complexity and its complexity measure began to emerge. Iberall and
Harry Soodak Harry Soodak (December 24, 1920 – September 30, 2008) was an American physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, publishing the first design of a sodium-cooled breeder reactor, and was a professor at City College of New York. Along wi ...
realized they were observing an area that physics has neglected, that of complex systems with their very long internal factory day delays. These systems are associated with nested hierarchy and with an extensive range of time scale processes. It was such connections, referred to as both up-down or in-out connections (as nested hierarchy) and side-side or flatland physics among atomistic-like components (as heterarchy) that became the hallmark of homeokinetic problems. By 1975, they began to describe these the problems of nature, life, humankind, mind, and society. A homeokinetic approach to complex systems has been applied to understanding life, ecological psychology, mind, anthropology, geology, law, motor control, bioenergetics, healing modalities, and political science. It has also been applied to social physics where a homeokinetics analysis shows that one must account for flow variables such as the flow of energy, of materials, of action, reproduction rate, and value-in-exchange. Iberall's conjectures on life and mind have been used as a springboard to develop theories of mental activity and action.


Congressional Briefings

:1960—Problems of Education and Science, US Senate Subcommittee on Government :1962—Scientific Needs of the USA, US Senate Subcommittee on Government :1963—Science as a Profession in the USA, US Senate Subcommittee on Government :1977—Scientific Needs of the USA, US Senate Subcommittee on Government


Patents

* Iberall, A.S., Inertial sensing system for use in navigation and guidance, 1971 * Iberall, A.S., Adjustable helmet face mask, 1972 * Iberall, A.S., Blood pressure measuring mechanism, 1972


Honors

* American Society for Cybernetics, past technical vice president * Instrument Society of America, past committee member * Biomedical Engineering Society, Alza Distinguished Lecturer (1975) * International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, past executive board member * Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers * Doctor of Science (honorary),
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...
(1976) * Arthur S. Iberall Distinguished Lecture Series on Life and the Sciences of Complexity at University of Connecticut at Storrs (2003–present) Retrieved November 24, 2016


Publications

Iberall authored 8 books, 95 peer-reviewed articles, and 49 scientific conference extended abstracts. He also wrote a series of booklets: "''CP2''" (Commentaries, Physical and Philosophical) published by Cri-de-Coeur Press from 1991-2002 discussing subjects as varied as problems with evolution, primer on social physics, and how systems and the mind work. A complete list of his published papers is online.


Books

* 1970. * 1972. * 1973. * 1973. * 1974. * 1976. * 1993. * 2016.


Selected articles

* * * * *Iberall, A.S. and W.S. McCulloch. "The organizing principle of complex living systems. ''J. Basic Engr.'', ASME 290-294, 1969. *Iberall, A.S., Use of lines of non extension. ASME Publication, 1969. *Iberall, A.S. "On the general dynamics of systems, General Systems Yearbook XV:7-13, 1970. * * * * * *Iberall, A.S. A fantasia on the design of a mammal. In: A. Iberall, A. Guyton (eds.). Regulation and Control in Physiological Systems, ISA, Pittsburgh, 1973. *Iberall, A.S. On the neurophysiological basis of war. General Systems Yearbook, XVIII:l61, 1973. *Iberall, A., Guyton, A. (eds). Regulation and Control in Physiological Systems. Proc. Joint IFAC, Am. Physiol. Soc., Intern Union Physiol. Sci. Conference, Rochester, NY, Instru. Soc. Amer., Pittsburgh, 1973. *Yates, F.E. and A.S. Iberall. Temporal and hierarchical organization in biosystems. In: J. Urquhart and F.E. Yates (eds.) Temporal Aspects of Therapeutics, p. 17-34 (54???), Plenum, N.Y., 1973. *Schindler, A.M. and A.S. Iberall. The need for a kinetics for biological transport. Biophy. J. 13:804, 1973. *Iberall, A.S. Flow and pressure regulation in the cardiovascular system. In: W. Vannah and H. Wayland (eds.). Flow, Its Measurement and Control In Science and Industry, Instr. Soc. of America, Pittsburgh, PA., 1(3), 1974. *Iberall, A.S. On a thermodynamic theory of history. General Systems Yearbook XIX:201, 1974. * * * * * * * *Iberall, A.S., H. Soodak and C. Arensberg. Homeokinetic physics of societies - A new discipline: Autonomous groups, cultures, polities. In: H. Reul, Ghista, D., and Rau, G. (eds.). Perspectives in Biomechanics, Vol. I, Part A. Harwood Academic Press, N.Y., pp. 433–527, 1980. * * * * * * * *Wilkinson, D. and A. S. Iberall. "From systems physics to world politics: Invitation to an enterprise. In: M. Karns (ed.), Persistent Patterns and Emergent Structures in a Waning Century. Praeger, NY, 1986. *Iberall, A. and Soodak, H.: A physics for complex systems. In: F. Yates, (ed.), Self-Organizing Systems, pp. 499–520. Plenum Press, NY 1987, p 499-520. *Iberall, A. A physics for studies of civilizations. In: F.E. Yates, (ed.), Self-Organizing Systems: The Emergence of Order. New York: Plenum Press, 1987, p 521-540. *Iberall, A.S. On rivers. In: F.E. Yates, (ed.), Self-Organizing Systems: The Emergence of Order. New York: Plenum Press, 1987, p 33-52. *Soodak, H., Iberall, A. Thermodynamics and complex systems. In: F.E. Yates, (ed.). Self-Organizing Systems: The Emergence of Order. New York: Plenum Press, 1987, p 459-469. *Iberall, A. and Wilkinson, D. Dynamic foundations for complex social systems. In: G. Modelski, (ed.), Exploring Long Cycles. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder, CO 1987. * * * * *Iberall, A. How to run a society, CP2: Commentaries, Physical and Philosophic, Laguna Hills, CA, 1.1-1.4, 1990; 2.1-2.4, 1991. * * * * *


References


External links


www.homeokinetics.orgcommons.trincoll.edu/homeokinetics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iberall, Arthur 20th-century American physicists 1918 births 2002 deaths American physicists