Symposium on Principles of Self-Organization

The Symposium on Principles of Self-Organization was held at Allerton House on 8–9 June 1960. It was a key conference in the development of cybernetics and was in many ways a continuation of the Macy Conferences. it was organised by Heinz von Foerster through the Biological Computer Laboratory based at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[1] It was sponsored by the Information Systems Branch of the U.S. Office of Naval Research.[2]

## Participants

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There were 38 male participants:[1]

### Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Illinois

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This was the host organisation.

* Murray Babcock
* Heinz von Foerster
* Alfred Inselberg
* Lars Löfgren
* Albert Mullin
* Albert Novikoff
* Paul Weston
* George Zopf

### Other participants from Illinois

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* John Bowman, Technological Institute, Northwestern University
* Scott Cameron, Armour Research Foundation
* Peter Greene, Committee on Mathematical Biology, University of Chicago
* Friedrich Hayek, Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago
* George Jacobi, Armour Research Foundation
* John R. Platt, Department of Physics, University of Chicago
* Stephen Sherwood, Illinois State Psychiatric Institute, Chicago
* A Shimbel, Illinois State Psychiatric Institute, Chicago

### Cambridge Massachusetts

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* Manuel Blum, W. S. McCulloch Room, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
* Jack Cowan, W. S. McCulloch Room, MIT
* Jerome I. Elkind, Bolt, Beranek, Newman Inc.
* Warren McCulloch, W. S. McCulloch Room, MIT
* Leo Verbeek, W. S. McCulloch Room, MIT

### Other participants

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* Saul Amarel, Radio Corporation of America
* Ross Ashby,
* Stafford Beer, United Steel Companies
* Ludwig von Bertalanffy
* Raymond Beurle, English Electric Valve Company
* Hewitt Crane, Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, California
* Joseph Hawkins
* Hans Oestriecher
* Gordon Pask
* Anatol Rapaport
* Charles Rosen
* Frank Rosenblatt
* Jack E. Steele
* Roger Sperry
* John Tooley
* David Willis
* Marshal Yovits

Two women participated, Kathy Forbes providing secretarial services and Cornelia Schaeffer of Athenium Publishers providing assistance in preparing the subsequent publication of the transactions of the symposium.[3]

## References

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1. ^ a b Hutchinson, Jamie. ""Nerve center" of the cybernetic world Heinz von Foerster and the Biological Computer Laboratory". Biological Computer Laboratory. University of Illinois. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
2. ^ "Frontispiece". International Tracts in Computer Science and Technology and Their Application. 9 (Principles of Self-Organization). 1962.
3. ^ "Preface". International Tracts in Computer Science and Technology and Their Application. 9 (Principles of Self-Organization). 1962.