![BrianSmall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/BrianSmall.png)
Brian Carey Goodwin (25 March 1931 – 15 July 2009) (St Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, Canada - Torbay, Devon, UK) was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
and
biologist
A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...
, a Professor Emeritus at the
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
and a founder of
theoretical biology
Mathematical and theoretical biology, or biomathematics, is a branch of biology which employs theoretical analysis, mathematical models and abstractions of the living organisms to investigate the principles that govern the structure, development a ...
and biomathematics. He introduced the use of complex systems and generative models in
developmental biology
Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of Regeneration (biology), regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and di ...
. He suggested that a
reductionist view of nature fails to explain complex features, controversially proposing the
structuralist theory that
morphogenetic field
In the developmental biology of the early twentieth century, a morphogenetic field is a group of cells able to respond to discrete, localized biochemical signals leading to the development of specific morphological structures or organs. The sp ...
s might substitute for
natural selection
Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charle ...
in driving
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
. He was also a visible member of the
Third Culture movement.
Biography
Brian Goodwin was born in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, Canada in 1931. He studied biology at
McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
and then emigrated to the
UK, under a
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.
Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...
for studying mathematics at Oxford. He got his PhD at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
presenting the thesis ''"Studies in the general theory of development and evolution"'' under the supervision of
Conrad Hal Waddington
Conrad Hal Waddington (8 November 1905 – 26 September 1975) was a British developmental biologist, paleontologist, geneticist, embryologist and philosopher who laid the foundations for systems biology, epigenetics, and evolutionary developm ...
. He then moved to
Sussex University
, mottoeng = Be Still and Know
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £14.4 million (2020)
, budget = £319.6 million (2019–20)
, chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar
, vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil
, ...
until 1983 when he became a full
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
at the
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
in
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...
until retirement in 1992. He became a major figure in the early development of
mathematical biology
Mathematical and theoretical biology, or biomathematics, is a branch of biology which employs theoretical analysis, mathematical models and abstractions of the living organisms to investigate the principles that govern the structure, development a ...
, along with other researchers. He was one of the attendants to the famous meetings that took place between 1965 and 1968 in Villa Serbelloni, hosted by the
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
, under the topic "Towards a theoretical Biology". The workshop involved, among other key scientists,
Conrad Waddington
Conrad Hal Waddington (8 November 1905 – 26 September 1975) was a British developmental biologist, paleontologist, geneticist, embryologist and philosopher who laid the foundations for systems biology, epigenetics, and evolutionary devel ...
,
Jack Cowan
Jack Cowan (6 June 1927 – 10 December 2000) was a Canadian association football player who won championships in both Canada and Scotland. He won the Scottish League Cup with Dundee in 1951–52 (also playing on the losing side in the final of ...
,
Michael Conrad
Michael Conrad (October 16, 1925November 22, 1983) was an American actor perhaps best known for his portrayal of veteran cop Sgt. Phil Esterhaus on ''Hill Street Blues'', in which he ended the introductory roll call to each week's show with "Le ...
,
Jim Burns
Jim Burns (born 10 April 1948) is a Welsh artist born in Cardiff, Wales. He has been called one of the Grand Masters of the science fiction art world.
In 1966 he joined the Royal Air Force, but soon thereafter he left and signed up at the N ...
,
Christopher Zeeman
Sir Erik Christopher Zeeman FRS (4 February 1925 – 13 February 2016), was a British mathematician, known for his work in geometric topology and singularity theory.
Overview
Zeeman's main contributions to mathematics were in topology, partic ...
,
Richard Lewontin
Richard Charles Lewontin (March 29, 1929 – July 4, 2021) was an American evolutionary biologist, mathematician, geneticist, and social commentator. A leader in developing the mathematical basis of population genetics and evolutionary theory, ...
,
Robert Rosen,
Stuart Kauffman
Stuart Alan Kauffman (born September 28, 1939) is an American medical doctor, theoretical biologist, and complex systems researcher who studies the origin of life on Earth. He was a professor at the University of Chicago, University of Pennsylv ...
,
John Maynard Smith
John Maynard Smith (6 January 1920 – 19 April 2004) was a British theoretical and mathematical evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he took a second degree in genetics und ...
,
René Thom
René Frédéric Thom (; 2 September 1923 – 25 October 2002) was a French mathematician, who received the Fields Medal in 1958.
He made his reputation as a topologist, moving on to aspects of what would be called singularity theory; he became w ...
and
Lewis Wolpert
Lewis Wolpert (19 October 1929 – 28 January 2021) was a South African-born British developmental biologist, author, and broadcaster. Wolpert was best known for his French flag model of embryonic development, where he used the French flag a ...
. As a result of the conference talks and discussions, a four-volume proceedings of the event came out, becoming at the time a major reference in the area.
Thereafter, he taught at the
Schumacher College
Schumacher College is a college near Totnes, Devon, England which offers ecology-centred degree programmes, short courses and horticultural programmes. The College is internationally renowned for its experiential approach to learning, encouragin ...
in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
,
UK, where he was instrumental in starting the college's MSc in Holistic Science. He was made a Founding Fellow of Schumacher College shortly before his death. Goodwin also had a research position at
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
and was a long time visitor of several institutions including the
UNAM
The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...
in Mexico City. He was a founding member of the
Santa Fe Institute
The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) is an independent, nonprofit theoretical research institute located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States and dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of the fundamental principles of complex adaptive systems, includ ...
in
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
where he also served as a member of the science board for several years.
Brian Goodwin died in hospital in 2009, after surgery resulting from a fall from his bicycle. Goodwin is survived by his third wife, Christel, and his daughter, Lynn.
Gene networks and development
Shortly after
François Jacob
François Jacob (17 June 1920 – 19 April 2013) was a French biologist who, together with Jacques Monod, originated the idea that control of enzyme levels in all cells occurs through regulation of transcription. He shared the 1965 Nobel Prize i ...
and
Jacques Monod
Jacques Lucien Monod (February 9, 1910 – May 31, 1976) was a French biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965, sharing it with François Jacob and André Lwoff "for their discoveries concerning genetic control of en ...
developed their first model of gene regulation, Goodwin proposed the first model of a genetic oscillator, showing that regulatory interactions among genes allowed periodic fluctuations to occur. Shortly after this model became published, he also formulated a general theory of complex
gene regulatory networks
A gene (or genetic) regulatory network (GRN) is a collection of molecular regulators that interact with each other and with other substances in the cell to govern the gene expression levels of mRNA and proteins which, in turn, determine the fun ...
using
statistical mechanics
In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. It does not assume or postulate any natural laws, but explains the macroscopic be ...
.
In its simplest form, Goodwin's oscillator involves a single gene that represses itself. Goodwin equations were originally formulated in terms of conservative (Hamiltonian) systems, thus not taking into account dissipative effects that are required in a realistic approach to regulatory phenomena in biology. Many versions have been developed since then. The simplest (but realistic) formulation considers three variables, X, Y and Z indicating the concentrations of
RNA
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...
,
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
and end product which generates the negative
feedback
Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...
loop. The equations are
:
:
:
and closed oscillations can occur for n>8 and behave
limit cycles: after a perturbation of the system's state, it returns to its previous attractor. A simple modification of this model, adding other terms introducing additional steps in the transcription machinery allows to find oscillations for smaller n values. Goodwin's model and its extensions have been widely used over the years as the basic skeleton for other models of oscillatory behavior, including
circadian clocks,
cell division
Cell division is the process by which a parent cell (biology), cell divides into two daughter cells. Cell division usually occurs as part of a larger cell cycle in which the cell grows and replicates its chromosome(s) before dividing. In eukar ...
or physiological control systems.
Developmental biology
In the field of
developmental biology
Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of Regeneration (biology), regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and di ...
, Goodwin explored
self-organization
Self-organization, also called spontaneous order in the social sciences, is a process where some form of overall order arises from local interactions between parts of an initially disordered system. The process can be spontaneous when suffi ...
in
pattern formation
The science of pattern formation deals with the visible, ( statistically) orderly outcomes of self-organization and the common principles behind similar patterns in nature.
In developmental biology, pattern formation refers to the generation of ...
, using case studies from single-cell (as ''
Acetabularia
''Acetabularia'' is a genus of green algae in the family Polyphysaceae, Typically found in subtropical waters, ''Acetabularia'' is a single-celled organism, but gigantic in size and complex in form, making it an excellent model organism for stu ...
'') to multicellular organisms, including early development in ''
Drosophila
''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species ...
''. He proposed that
morphogenetic field
In the developmental biology of the early twentieth century, a morphogenetic field is a group of cells able to respond to discrete, localized biochemical signals leading to the development of specific morphological structures or organs. The sp ...
s, defined in terms of spatial distributions of chemical signals (morphogenes), could pattern and shape the embryo. In this way, geometry and development were linked through a mathematical formalism. Along with his colleague Lynn Trainor, Goodwin developed a set of mathematical equations describing the changes of both physical boundaries in the organism and chemical gradients.
By considering the mechanochemical behaviour of the cortical cytoplasm (or cytogel) of plant cells, a viscoelastic material mainly composed of actin microfilaments and reinforced by a microtubules network, Goodwin & Trainor (1985) showed how to couple calcium and the mechanical properties of the cytoplasm. The cytogel is treated as a continuous viscoelastic medium in which calcium ions can diffuse and interact with the cytoskeleton. The model consists in two non-linear partial differential equations which describe the evolution of the mechanical strain field and of the calcium distribution in the cytogel.
It has been shown (Trainor & Goodwin, 1986) that, in a range of parameter values, instabilities may occur and develop in this system, leading to intracellular patterns of strain and calcium concentration. The equations read, in their general form:
:
:
These equations describe the spatiotemporal dynamics of the displacement from the reference state and the calcium concentration, respectively. Here x and t are the space and time coordinates, respectively. These equations can be applied to many different scenarios and the different functions P(x) introduce the specific mechanical properties of the medium. These equations can generate a rich variety of static and dynamic patterns, from complex geometrical motifs to oscillations and chaos (Briere 1994).
Structuralism
He was also a strong advocate of the view that genes cannot fully explain the
complexity
Complexity characterises the behaviour of a system or model whose components interaction, interact in multiple ways and follow local rules, leading to nonlinearity, randomness, collective dynamics, hierarchy, and emergence.
The term is generall ...
of biological systems. In that sense, he became one of the strongest defenders of the systems view against
reductionism
Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of other simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical pos ...
. He suggested that nonlinear phenomena and the fundamental laws defining their behavior were essential to understand biology and its evolutionary paths. His position within evolutionary biology can be defined as a
structuralist one. To Goodwin, many
patterns in nature
Patterns in nature are visible regularities of form found in the natural world. These patterns recur in different contexts and can sometimes be modelled mathematically. Natural patterns include symmetries, trees, spirals, meanders, waves, foa ...
are a byproduct of constraints imposed by complexity. The limited repertoire of motifs observed in the spatial organization of plants and animals (at some scales) would be, in Goodwin's opinion, a fingerprint of the role played by such constraints. The role of
natural selection
Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charle ...
would be secondary.
These opinions were highly controversial, and they brought Goodwin into conflict with many prominent Darwinian evolutionists, whereas some physicists found some of his views natural. Physicist
Murray Gell-Mann
Murray Gell-Mann (; September 15, 1929 – May 24, 2019) was an American physicist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles. He was the Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Theoretical ...
for example acknowledged that "when biological evolution — based on largely random variation in genetic material and on natural selection — operates on the structure of actual organisms, it does so subject to the laws of physical science, which place crucial limitations on how living things can be constructed."
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...
, the former professor for public understanding of science at Oxford University and a well known Darwinian evolutionist, conceded: "I don't think there's much good evidence to support
is thesis but it's important that somebody like Brian Goodwin is saying that kind of thing, because it provides the other extreme, and the truth probably lies somewhere between." Dawkins also agreed that "It's a genuinely interesting possibility that the underlying laws of morphology allow only a certain limited range of shapes.". For his part, Goodwin did not reject basic Darwinism, only its excesses.
Reception
Biologist
Gert Korthof
Gert Korthof is a Dutch biologist who was trained at Utrecht University. He has reviewed various books of evolution, creationism, and intelligent design, including Michael Behe
Michael Joseph Behe ( ; born January 18, 1952) is an American bio ...
has praised the research of Goodwin commenting he tried to "improve Darwinism in a scientific way."
David B. Wake has also positively reviewed Goodwin's research describing him as a "thoughtful scientist, one of the great dissenters from the orthodoxies of modern evolutionary, genetic and developmental biology".
[ Wake, David B. (1996). ''How the Leopard Changed Its Spots: The Evolution of Complexity by Brian Goodwin''. '']American Scientist
__NOTOC__
''American Scientist'' (informally abbreviated ''AmSci'') is an American bimonthly science and technology magazine published since 1913 by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. In the beginning of 2000s the headquarters was in New ...
''. Vol. 84, No. 3. pp. 300-301.
Goodwin had argued that
natural selection
Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charle ...
was "too weak
force" to explain evolution and only operated as a filter mechanism. He claimed that modern evolutionary biology failed to provide an explanation for the theory of biological form and had ignored the importance of
morphogenesis
Morphogenesis (from the Greek ''morphê'' shape and ''genesis'' creation, literally "the generation of form") is the biological process that causes a cell, tissue or organism to develop its shape. It is one of three fundamental aspects of devel ...
in evolution. He claimed to provide a new evolutionary theory to replace neo-Darwinism. In a critical review, biologist Catherine S. C. Price noted that although he had succeeded in providing an alternative to mutation as the only source of variation, he failed to provide an alternative to natural selection as a mechanism of adaptation.
[Price, Catherine S. C. (1995). ''Structurally Unsound''. '']Evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
''. Vol. 49, No. 6. pp. 1298-1302. Price claimed Goodwin's "discussion of evolution is biased, insufficiently developed and poorly informed", and that he misrepresented Darwinism, used
straw man
A straw man (sometimes written as strawman) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy of having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the real subject of the argument was not addressed or refuted, but instead replaced with a false ...
arguments and ignored research from
population genetics
Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and between populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as adaptation, speciation, and pop ...
.
The evolutionary biologist
Günter P. Wagner
Günter P. Wagner (born May 28, 1954 in Vienna, Austria) is an Austrian-born evolutionary biologist who is Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary biology at Yale University, and head of the Wagner Lab.
Education and training
After undergraduate e ...
described Goodwin's structuralism as "a
fringe
Fringe may refer to:
Arts
* Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe"
* Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival
* Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre
* The Fringe, the ...
movement in evolutionary biology".
[ Wagner, Günter P., ''Homology, Genes, and Evolutionary Innovation''. Princeton University Press. 2014. Chapter 1: The Intellectual Challenge of Morphological Evolution: A Case for Variational Structuralism. Page 7]
Publications
;Books
* 1963. ''Temporal Organization in Cells'' Academic Press, London 1963,
* 1989. ''Theoretical Biology: Epigenetic and Evolutionary Order for Complex Systems'' with Peter Saunders, Edinburgh University Press, 1989,
* 1994. ''Mechanical Engineering of the Cytoskeleton in Developmental Biology (International Review of Cytology)'', with Kwang W. Jeon and Richard J. Gordon, Academic Press, London 1994,
* 1996. ''Form and Transformation: Generative and Relational Principles in Biology'', Cambridge Univ Press, 1996.
* 1997. ''How the Leopard Changed its Spots: The Evolution of Complexity'', Scribner, 1994, (German: ''Der Leopard, der seine Flecken verliert'', Piper, München 1997, )
* 2001. ''Signs of Life: How Complexity Pervades Biology'', with Ricard V. Solé, Basic Books, 2001,
* 2007. ''Nature's Due: Healing Our Fragmented Culture'', Floris Books, 2007,
;Selected Scientific papers
* Goodwin, BC 1965, "Oscillatory behaviour in enzymatic control processes", Adv. Enz. Reg. 3: 425-428.
* Goodwin BC 1978, "A cognitive view of biological process." J Soc Biol Structures 1:117-125
* Gordon, DM, Goodwin, BC and Trainor LEH 1992, "A parallel distributed model of the behaviour of ant colonies", J. Theor. Biol. 156, 293-307.
* 1997, "Temporal organization and disorganization in organisms". in: ''Chronobiology International'' 14 (5): 531-536 1997
* Goodwin BC, 1978 "A cognitive view of biological process", J. Soc. Biol. Struct. 1, 117-125.
* 2000, "The life of form. Emergent patterns of morphological transformation". in: ''Comptes rendud de la Academie des Science III'' 323 (1): 15-21 JAN 2000
* Goodwin BC (2000). The life of form. Emergent patterns of morphological transformation. Comptes rendus de l'academie des sciencies III - Sciences de la vie-life sciences 323 (1): 15-21
* Goodwin BC. (1997) Temporal organization and disorganization in organisms. Chronobiology international 14 (5): 531-536
* Solé, R., O. Miramontes y Goodwin BC. (1993) "Order and chaos in ant societies". J. Theor. Biol. 161: 343
* Miramontes, O., R. Solé y BC Goodwin (1993), Collective Behaviour of Random-Activated Mobile Cellular Automata. Physica D 63: 145-160
* Jaeger, J. and Goodwin BC 2001, "A cellular oscillator model for periodic pattern formation" J. Theor. Biol. 213, 71-181.
* 2002, "In the Shadow of Culture". in: "The Next Fifty Years: Science in the First Half of the Twenty-First Century" Edited by John Brockman, Vintage Books, MAY 2002,
* Goodwin B 2005, "Meaning in evolution" J. Biol. Phys. Chem. 5, 51–56.
References
External links
A New Science of Qualities: a Talk With Brian Goodwin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodwin, Brian
1931 births
2009 deaths
20th-century Canadian mathematicians
21st-century Canadian mathematicians
Theoretical biologists
Academics of the Open University
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Anglophone Quebec people
Canadian Rhodes Scholars
Cellular automatists
McGill University Faculty of Science alumni
Non-Darwinian evolution
Scientists from Montreal
Systems biologists
Accidental deaths in England
Accidental deaths from falls
Pseudoscientific biologists
20th-century Canadian biologists