World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics

Citation

Andrew, A.M. (2010), "World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics", Kybernetes, Vol. 39 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2010.06739aab.008

World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics

Article Type: News, conferences and technical reports From: Kybernetes, Volume 39, Issue 1

Presentation of the Norbert Wiener Memorial Gold Medal

The prestigious Norbert Wiener Memorial Gold Medal of WOSC was awarded to Dr Alex M. Andrew at a ceremony held at King’s College University of London, UK on 12 September 2009 (Figure 1).

The occasion was the Annual Conference of the Cybernetics Society. The presentation of the award at this venue and at this important conference was particularly appropriate since Dr Andrew is also an active participant in the affairs of the Society and a frequent speaker at its events.

Figure 1 Dr Alex M. Andrew who was presented with the Norbert Wiener Memorial Gold Medal

WOSC is very grateful to the President of the society, Professor Martin Smith and the Council for arranging the presentation which took place at a gathering of Dr Andrew’s fellow members.

Before the ceremony the President of WOSC Professor Vallée gave a paper “Observation operators revisited” which was followed by the Gold Medal recipient’s address on “Strong AI, Continuity and Evolution”.

Presenting the beribboned gold medal, Professor Vallée said: It is a great pleasure for me to present to Dr Alex Andrew the Norbert Wiener Memorial Gold Medal of the World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics which has been attributed since 1978 to nine personalities.

Dr Andrew deserves it particularly both for his participation to the WOSC and his research work and teaching in the field of cybernetics and systems.

After being Director for International Affairs of WOSC he was elected, in 1997, Honorary Fellow and, in 2003, he became an efficient Director-General, playing also an important part in the edition of Kybernetes, the official journal of the WOSC.

Alex Andrew started his research work in the field of physiology and psychological medicine at Glasgow University, with a leave at MIT in the group of Warren McCulloch. He got his PhD from Glasgow. After two years at the firm SIGMA, managed by Stafford Beer, he spent a year in Heinz von Förster’s group at the University of Illinois. He taught cybernetics in the University of Reading from 1965 to 1982 and artificial intelligence in the University of Argean in Izmir, from 1987 to 1988. He also set up the firm Viable Systems, continuing his researches.

Two main traits of his scientific work are the principle of “significance feedback” (1965) and the role of continuous variables in machine learning (1959). He wrote six books mainly on artificial intelligence, self-organizing systems, continuous variables (in particular his last book A Missing Link in Cybernetics, 2009).

On a personal level we are all aware of Dr Andrew’s great modesty in the light of his many notable achievements and his initial reluctance to be honoured by the organisation he has served so well. The announcement of his award was made at the opening assembly of participants at the WOSC 14th Congress at Wroclaw in September 2008 when it was greeted with much acclaim and appreciation of his contributions through scholarship and service to the cybernetics and systems global community.

Meeting of WOSC office-holders

The senior WOSC office-holders met in London, UK on the 11 September. Present were Professor Robert Vallée (President), Professor Brian Rudall (Vice-President), Dr Alex M. Andrew (Director-General). A number of important subjects were discussed and WOSC Directors will receive the minutes of the meeting.

Professor Robert Vallée passed over copies of a number of documents from the early days of WOSC, to the Director-General for the WOSC archives. They included two documents that formally defined the nature and aims of the organisation. They were said to have been prepared as part of Professor Rose’s successful effort to gain UNESCO recognition. They were headed “Charter” and “By Laws”. The Director-General is to produce them as computer files so that they will be available to WOSC officers and other interested parties. The further subjects under discussion included: the appointment of additional directors; the 2011 WOSC Congress; the official selection of Kybernetes as the organisation’s journal; and the WOSC Finances.

Further information concerning the meeting and the follow-up discussions will be communicated by the Director-General on the WOSC web site.

New WOSC directors

The following eminent workers in the field have accepted recent invitations to become directors of the WOSC:

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  Professor Jerzy Józefczyk, Wrocław, Poland.

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  Professor Matjaz Mulej, Maribor, Slovenia.

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  Professor Markus Schwaninger, St Gallen, Switzerland.

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  Professor Vadim L. Stefanuk, Moscow, Russia.

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  Professor Yi Lin (Jeffrey Yi Lin Forrest), Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, USA.

These are in addition to the following, recruited earlier:

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  Professor Martin Smith, London, UK.

A full list of directors can be found at: www.cybsoc.org/wosc/people.htm

The president, vice-president and director-general welcome these new directors and look forward to fruitful collaboration.

Alex M. AndrewDirector-General