PHYSICIST

Heinz von Foerster

1911 - 2002

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Heinz von Foerster (née von Förster; November 13, 1911 – October 2, 2002) was an Austrian-American scientist combining physics and philosophy, and widely attributed as the originator of second-order cybernetics. He was twice a Guggenheim fellow (1956–57 and 1963–64) and also was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1980. He is well known for his 1960 Doomsday equation formula published in Science predicting future population growth.As a polymath, he wrote nearly two hundred professional papers, gaining renown in fields ranging from computer science and artificial intelligence to epistemology, and researched high-speed electronics and electro-optics switching devices as a physicist, and in biophysics, the study of memory and knowledge. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Heinz von Foerster has received more than 272,960 page views. His biography is available in 15 different languages on Wikipedia. Heinz von Foerster is the 544th most popular physicist (down from 492nd in 2019), the 694th most popular biography from Austria (down from 617th in 2019) and the 15th most popular Austrian Physicist.

Memorability Metrics

  • 270k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 51.31

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 15

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 4.25

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.02

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Heinz von Foersters by language

Over the past year Heinz von Foerster has had the most page views in the with 37,702 views, followed by German (19,756), and Spanish (4,337). In terms of yearly growth of page views the top 3 wikpedia editions are Dutch (66.58%), Egyptian Arabic (57.14%), and Italian (51.58%)

Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, Heinz von Foerster ranks 544 out of 851. Before him are Dmitri Ivanenko, Abraham Alikhanov, Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, John Sealy Townsend, Alfred Perot, and Artem Alikhanian. After him are Norman Holter, Lev Artsimovich, C. P. Snow, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, Theodore Lyman IV, and David Deutsch.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1911, Heinz von Foerster ranks 171. Before him are Guy Burgess, Yang Jiang, Tarō Okamoto, Xiao Hong, Broderick Crawford, and Otakar Vávra. After him are Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Klára Dán von Neumann, Nagarjun, Viktor Nekrasov, Hédi Amara Nouira, and George Seaton. Among people deceased in 2002, Heinz von Foerster ranks 161. Before him are Ray Brown, Raymond Firth, Robert Urich, John Thaw, Xavier Montsalvatge, and Vlado Perlemuter. After him are Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Martti Miettunen, André Clot, Sune Andersson, Arne Selmosson, and Norihito, Prince Takamado.

Others Born in 1911

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Others Deceased in 2002

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In Austria

Among people born in Austria, Heinz von Foerster ranks 694 out of 1,424. Before him are Maurice Loewy (1833), Alexandru Vaida-Voevod (1872), Anton von Schmerling (1805), Erich Leinsdorf (1912), Franz Bartl (1915), and Leopold Hofmann (1738). After him are Alfréd Wetzler (1918), Rudolf von Alt (1812), Heinz Weixelbraun (1963), Joseph Hellmesberger Sr. (1828), Hans Hass (1919), and Josef Hickersberger (1948).

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Among PHYSICISTS In Austria

Among physicists born in Austria, Heinz von Foerster ranks 15. Before him are Victor Weisskopf (1908), Walter Kohn (1923), Fritjof Capra (1939), Marietta Blau (1894), Berta Karlik (1904), and Marian Smoluchowski (1872). After him are Friedrich Hasenöhrl (1874), Julius Wess (1934), Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger (1795), Sulamith Goldhaber (1923), Peter Zoller (1952), and Walter Munk (1917).

Austrian born Physicists

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