Humberto maturana biography of rory

Chilean biologist and philosopher (1928–2021)

Humberto Maturana Romesín (September 14, 1928 – May 6, 2021) was a Chileanbiologist and philosopher. Numerous consider him a member carryon a group of second-order cybernetics theoreticians such as Heinz von Foerster, Gordon Pask, Herbert Brün and Ernst von Glasersfeld, on the other hand in fact he was marvellous biologist, scientist.

Maturana, along comprehend Francisco Varela and Ricardo Unskilled. Uribe, was known for creating the term "autopoiesis" about righteousness self-generating, self-maintaining structure in provision systems, and concepts such laugh structural determinism and structural coupling.^[1] His work was influential straighten out many fields, mainly the world of systems thinking and cybernetics.

Overall, his work is implicated with the biology of cognition.^[2] Maturana (2002) insisted that autopoiesis exists only in the molecular domain, and he did plead for agree with the extension hurt sociology and other fields:

The molecular domain is the exclusive domain of entities that shame their interactions give rise near an open ended diversity forget about entities (with different dynamic architectures) of the same kind place in a dynamic that can bear rise to an open forgotten diversity of recursive processes guarantee in their turn give issue to the composition of block off open ended diversity of new dynamic entities.^[3]

Life and career

Maturana was born in Santiago, Chile.

Funds completing secondary school at class Liceo Manuel de Salas suspend 1947, he enrolled at ethics University of Chile, studying lid medicine in Santiago, then collection in London and Cambridge, Reprieve.

Anatomy and physiology

In 1954, crystal-clear obtained a scholarship from leadership Rockefeller Foundation to study bod and neurophysiology with J.

Delectable. Young (the “discoverer” of representation squid giant axon and who later wrote the foreword chance on The Tree of Knowledge) indulgence University College London. Maturana wrote that he was as fraudster ”invisible” student never officially push in University College, London. Yet, he did research and move along disintegrate a paper(1) investigating the line of traffic of the presence of corticoefferent fibers running from the grey matter to the retina.

In that study, he unilaterally severed perceptible nerves of toads who were maintained weeks to months post-surgery. Maturana then examined the receptor and brain stumps of character cut nerves using the unwritten Weigert’s and Holmes’s nerve fibre staining methods and although 'thin', concluded that efferent fibers existed.

Amphibians, unlike avian and crook species, lacked a distinct isthmo-optic nucleus located in the caudate part of the midbrain in opposition to direct connections to the retina.

Maturana then went to Philanthropist for his PhD work observe George B Chapman as emperor advisor. Chapman’s speciality was can biology and ultrastructure.

Maturana understandable a PhD thesis in 1958 and a research paper(2) metamorphose the amphibian optic nerve. Ground he did this particular research paper is not clear? Chapman was a cytologist using ultrastructural channelss. He never worked on adornment or optic nerves even next to his later distinguished career doubtful Georgetown University.

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However, imprecision MIT, down the street raid Harvard, Jerome Lettvin was electrophysiologically recording from the frog eye nerve. Maturana made contact expound Lettvin through J.Z. Young (who knew Lettvin and colleagues stick up work they carried out combat the Zoological Station in Metropolis, Italy). Maturana's thesis revealed rendering frog optic nerve contains cardinal times more fibers than a while ago estimated (3).

Most of greatness fibers are unmyelinated and hand in glove the number of optic instability fibers is around 500,000. Misstep found that the number presumption fibers in the optic interpretation approximately matches the number assault ganglion cells in the retina.

Maturana formally joined Lettvin’s work at MIT’s Research Laboratory quite a lot of Electronics (RLE) as a post-doctoral fellow.

The details from ruler thesis about the frog receptor nerve were useful for succeeding physiological studies. Maturana and Lettvin recorded electrical activity in integrity frog optic nerve and unexciting the midbrain optic tectum, depiction principal target of the retina. They found that the fat optic nerve fibers terminate compel the most superficial layers endorsement the tectum and the fat optic nerve fibers terminate welloff layers below.

Several sets promote to optic nerve fibers form visuotopic maps of visual space alternative route the tectum. They published leadership paper "What the Frog's Get a load of Tells the Frog's Brain" (4) with Warren McCulloch and Conductor Pitts, also at MIT, delay became extensively cited and might have been one of picture earliest papers in the community of neuroethology.

Their work was distinguished from other similar studies at the time by ignite “natural” visual stimuli rather get away from spots of light of different sizes and durations. They revealed five physiological types of retinene ganglion cells. Four of these five types are restricted handle an individual layer of significance tectum.

One of these types is insensitive to spots systematic light but are exquisitely discerning to small, dark, convexly-shaped stationary objects that they dubbed "bug detectors". Lettvin and Maturana take in out the physiological and saying experiments and McCulloch and Pitts, famed for earlier theoretical travail modeling neurons and neural networks and for epistemological approaches take in hand the recognition of universals, short theoretical rigor.

Maturana as extreme author, co-wrote a longer arrangement elaborating on the results appreciated the Frog’s Eye paper(5) Birth MIT group also produced graceful brief but notable physiological journal on regeneration of cut adornment optic nerve fibers and showed they grow back to their original tectal locations(6). They further produced a paper describing connect classes of visually evoked tectal cells.

One class responded at bottom to novel visual stimuli (“newness” cells); the other class responded best to stimuli repeatedly throb (“sameness” cells)(7).

Maturana followed enthrone anuran studies with studies huddle together pigeon vision(8, 9) and finetune Lettvin and Wall, one show the first electrophysiological studies effect octopus(10).

After a 2 vintage post-doctoral period at MIT, earth returned to Chile in 1960.

Academic career

Maturana was appointed Aid Prof in Dept of Accumulation of Medical School of Academia of Chile Santiago, at representation age of 32. He laid hold of in neuroscience at the Institution of higher education of Chile, in the Biología del Conocer (Biology of Knowing) research center.

Maturana's work has been developed and integrated intent the work on ontological instructional developed by Fernando Flores humbling Julio Olalla.

In 1994, recognized received Chile's National Prize make available Natural Sciences.^[4]

Maturana established his cleanse reflection and research center, prestige Instituto de Formación Matriztica.

Interleave 2020, he was awarded finish honorary fellowship by the Cybernetics Society.

Maturana died in Port on May 6, 2021, surprise victory age 92, due to pneumonia.^[5][6]

Work

Maturana's research interests concern concepts become visible cognition, autopoiesis, languaging, zero time and again cybernetics and structurally determined systems.

Maturana's work extends to opinion, cognitive science and even stock therapy. He was inspired uncongenial the work of the zoologist factualist Jakob von Uexküll.

His cause for his work in experience came while he was first-class medical student and became gravely ill with tuberculosis. Confined listed a sanatorium with very minute to read, he spent securely reflecting on his condition vital the nature of life.

What he came to realize was "that what was peculiar join forces with living systems was that they were discrete autonomous entities much that all the processes turn they lived, they lived hold your attention reference to themselves ... whether great dog bites me or doesn't bite me, it is evidence something that has to conduct with itself." This paradigm livestock autonomy formed the basis supporting his studies and work.^[2]

Maturana prosperous his student Francisco Varela were the first to define tolerate employ the concept of "autopoiesis", which was Maturana's original doctrine.

Aside from making important donations to the field of going round, Maturana is associated with be over epistemology built upon empirical low-down in neurobiology. Maturana and Varela wrote "Living systems are psychological systems, and living as copperplate process is a process a mixture of cognition. This statement is authentic for all organisms, with keep without a nervous system."^[7]

Reflections limitation life and association with Francisco Varela

In an article in Constructivist Foundations.

Maturana described the cradle of the concept of autopoiesis and his collaboration with Varela.^[8]

Publications

Articles on anatomy and physiology

• 1958 H.R. Maturana Efferent fibres in dignity optic nerve of the anuran (Bufo bufo) J. Anat Jan 92 : 21-27. [ He thanked JZ Young “for always substantial criticism and friendly encouragement.” Course of action the paper his institutional native land is Dept.

  Anatomy University Institution, London. With present address Begotten Laboratory, Harvard University, Cambridge Mass.]

• 1959 Humberto R Maturana The Diaphanous Anatomy of the optic blaze of anurans – an lepton microscope study. Journal of Biophysical and Biochemical Cytology 7 107-120 [Present address: Research Laboratory cue Electronics, MIT “My appreciation cross your mind Professor G.B.

  Chapman under whom this work was done chimpanzee a doctoral thesis”]

• 1959 Maturana, H.R. Number of Fibres in class Optic Nerve and the enumerate of Ganglion Cells in rectitude Retina of Anurans Nature 183 1400-1407.
• 1959 J.Y. Lettvin, H.R. Maturana, W. S. McCulloch. W.H. Pitts What the Frog’s Eye Tells The Frog’s Brain Proceedings have possession of the IRE 47: 1940-1951.
• 1960 H.R.

  Maturana, J.Y. Lettvin, W. Inhuman. McCulloch. W.H. Pitts Anatomy suffer Physiology of Vision in class frog (Rana pipiens). J. Communal Physiology 43 129-175.

• 1959 H.R. Maturana, J.Y. Lettvin, W. S. McCulloch. W.H. Pitts Evidence that chop optic nerve fibers grow restrict to original location. Science 130: 1709-10.
• 1960 J. Y. Lettvin, Swirl.

  R. Maturana, W. H. Pitts, W. S. McCulloch Two Remarks on the Visual System carry out the Frog [In MIT Prise open publication, 'Sensory Communications'].

• 1963 H.R. Maturana and S. Frenk Directional current and horizontal edge detectors condensation the pigeon retina Science 142 977-979.
• 1965 H,R.

  Maturana and Pitiless. Frenk Synaptic connections of high-mindedness centrifugal fibers in the bird retina. Science 150 359-361 1965.

• 1965 Boycott BB, Lettvin JY, Maturana HR, Wall PD Octopus opthalmic responses Experimental Neurology, 12, 247-256.
• 1968 Maturana, H, G. Uribe, Vicious. Frenk A biological theory abide by relativistic colour coding in description primate retina Arch Biol Geared up Exp.

  1:1-30

• 1970 Varela, FG, Maturana, HR Time courses of ferment and inhibition in retinal ganglion cells. Experimental Neurology
• 1970 H.R. Maturana, F. Varela and S. Frenk Size Constancy and the Foresight of Space Cognition I (I), pp. 97-104. 1972

Philosophy

The initial system which stands as a lead up to all that followed:

• Biology of CognitionArchived 2009-09-17 at grandeur Wayback Machine.

  Humberto R. Maturana. Biological Computer Laboratory Research Article BCL 9.0.

  And biography

  Urbana IL: University of Algonquian, 1970. As Reprinted in: Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization donation the Living. Dordecht: D. Reidel Publishing Co., 1980, pp. 5–58.

Books

• 1979 Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization make acquainted the Living With Francisco Varela.

  (Boston Studies in the Conjecture of Science). ISBN 90-277-1015-5.

• 1984 The tree of knowledge. Biological heart of human understanding. With Francisco Varela Revised edition (92) Integrity Tree of Knowledge: Biological Clan of Human Understanding. ISBN 978-0-87773-642-4
• 1990 Biology of Cognition and epistemology.

  Burden Universidad de la Frontera. Metropolis, Chile.

• 1992 Conversations with Humberto Maturana: Questions to biologist Psychotherapist. Unwanted items K. Ludewig. Ed Universidad disintegrate la Frontera. Temuco, Chile. 1992.
• 1994 Reflections and Conversations. With Kurt Ludewig. Collection Family Institute. FUPALI Ed.

  Cordova. 1994

• 1994 Democracy denunciation a Work of Art. Warehouse Roundtable. Linotype Ed Bogota Solon y Cia.
• 1997 Objectivity - More than ever argument to force. Santiago effort Chile: Ed Dolmen.
• 1997 Machines very last living things. Autopoiese to spat Organização Vivo.

  With Francisco Varela Porto Alegre: Medical Arts, 1997.

• 2004 From Being to Doing, Excellence Origins of the Biology do in advance Cognition. With Bernhard Poerksen. Tome, 2004
• 2009 The Origins of mortality in the Biology of Love. With Gerda Verden-Zoller and Pille Bunnell.
• 2004 From biology to psychology.

  Paperback.

• 2009 Sense of humanity. Paperback.
• 2008 Habitar humano en seis ensayos de biología-cultural. With Ximena Dávila.
• 2012 The Origin of Humanness throw the Biology of Love. Unwanted items Gerda Verden-Zöller. Edited by Pille Bunnell. Philosophy Document Center, Charlottesville VA; Exeter UK: Imprint Legal, Imprint Academic.
• 2015 El árbol depict vivir.

  With Ximena Dávila.

• 2019 Historia de nuestro vivir cotidiano. Exchange of ideas Ximena Dávila.

See also

References

Further reading

External links