John Nelson Warfield (November 21, 1925November 17, 2009) was an American systems scientist, who was professor and director of the Institute for Advanced Study in the Integrative Sciences (IASIS) at

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

, and president of the Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society.

Biography

Warfield was born November 21, 1925, and grew up in

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, and studied at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Originally he majored in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and minored in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

, but his studies were interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After basic training in the U. S. Army Infantry, the Army put him in a specialized training program to study

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, which he found very interesting, especially electronics and communications.John N. Warfield Background
retrieved 24 August 2007. After the war he completed his original undergraduate program and continued on to get advanced degrees in

. He received the Bachelor of Arts in 1948, Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1948, and Master of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1949 from the University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri. He received the Doctor of Philosophy degree from

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, West Lafayette, Indiana, in 1952. His major was

with a specialty in communications engineering. He gained about 10 years of industrial experience with the firms: Wilcox Electric Company, Battelle Memorial Institute, and Burroughs Corporation. His industrial experience included theoretical and experimental research, electronic development and reliability testing of navigational equipment for jet aircraft. His longest service in this group was with the Battelle Memorial Institute from 1968 to 1974, where he held the title Senior Research Leader. At Battelle, and later at Virginia and George Mason universities, he developed the sociotechnology of interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and developed interactive management in collaboration with Alexander Christakis from 1979 till 1989. He was elected President of the Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

IEEE, and of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (formerly called the Society for General Systems Research). He served as Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics from 1968 to 1971, and as founding Editor-in-Chief of the Pergamon journal ''Systems Research'', during the period 1981–1990. Warfield was a member of the Academic Committee of the International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics. He was a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and holds that organization's Centennial Medal. He was a member of the Association for Integrative Studies, and in the Board of Governors of the International Society for Panetics. In 2006 John N. Warfield was awarded the Joseph G. Wohl Award for Career Achievement at the 2006 annual meeting of the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society. This is the highest award given by the society, and is not awarded every year. He was awarded for his contributions to systems engineering concepts, methodology, design, education and management. Warfield was also awarded the IEEE Third Millennium Medal.

Publications

Warfield was the author of more than 10 books and 100 papers.LIST OF PUBLICATIONS
Complete list of publications of John N. Warfield, retrieved 25 August 2007. His books: * 1958. ''Synthesis of Linear Communications Networks''. with G. E. Knausenberger, New York: McGraw-Hill. * 1959. ''Introduction to Electronic Analog Computers''. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall. * 1963. ''Principles of Logic Design''. Boston: Ginn and Company. * 1976. ''Societal Systems: Planning, Policy, and Complexity''. New York: Wiley Interscience. * 1990. ''A Science of Generic Design: Managing Complexity through Systems Design''. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press 1994. * 1994. ''A Handbook of Interactive Management''. With Roxana Cárdenas, Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press 1994. * 2002. ''Understanding Complexity: Thought and Behavior''. AJAR Publishing Company, Palm Harbor, FL. * 2003. ''The Mathematics of Structure''. AJAR Publishing Company, Palm Harbor, FL. * 2006. ''An Introduction to Systems Sciences''. World Scientific, Singapore Articles, papers and monographs, a selection: * 1956. ''Systems Engineering''. United States Department of Commerce PB111801. * 1957. "How to Improve Systems Engineering". ''Aeronautical Engineering Review'', 16(7), July, 1957, 50–51. * 1969. "What is System Planning?". With R.W. House, in: ''Automatica'' Vol. 5, 1969, pp. 151–157. * 1972. ''A Unified Systems Engineering Concept''. With J. D. Hill, ''et al.'', ''Columbus: Battelle Memorial Institute, Monograph No. 1'', June, 1972. * 1974. ''Structuring Complex Systems''. ''Columbus: Battelle Memorial Institute Monograph No. 4'', April, 1974 * 1987. "Dimensionality" with Alexander Christakis Systems Research 4, pp. 127–137 * 2003. "A Proposal for Systems Science". In: Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Vol. 20 (2003), pp. 507–520. * 2003. "Autobiographical Retrospectives: Discovering Systems Science". In: ''International Journal of General Systems'', December 2003 Vol 32 (6), pp. 525–563.

References

External links

Warfield site maintained by the Warfield IP Trust, includes free downloadable ISM software
J.N. Warfield
short resume
John N. Warfield
background

* Panetics Societ

Interview with Peirce, Foucault and Hayek about Ralph Siu

Can Panetics Become a Science? Second Interview with Foucault, Hayek, and Peirce, Interviews by John N. Warfield

Conflicting Values and Perceptions and Panetics by John N. Warfield
John N. Warfield Digital Archive

Obituary from TimesDaily

The Passing of Dr. John N. Warfield, 84

Warfield in the Quergeist collection
John Warfield Papers
Warfield family, John {{Society for General Systems Research Presidents 1925 births 2009 deaths American systems engineers American systems scientists George Mason University faculty IEEE Centennial Medal laureates Presidents of the International Society for the Systems Sciences

Biography

Publications

See also

References

External links