Charles François (5 September 1922 – 31 July 2019) was a Belgian administrator, editor and scientist in the fields of

cybernetics Cybernetics is the transdisciplinary study of circular causal processes such as feedback and recursion, where the effects of a system's actions (its outputs) return as inputs to that system, influencing subsequent action. It is concerned with ...

systems theory Systems theory is the Transdisciplinarity, transdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or artificial. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, de ...

and

systems science Systems science, also referred to as systems research or simply systems, is a transdisciplinary field that is concerned with understanding simple and complex systems in nature and society, which leads to the advancements of formal, natural, socia ...

, internationally known for his main work the '' International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics.''

Biography

Charles François was born in Belgium in 1922, and studied consular and commercial sciences at Brussels Free University. After the Second World War he emigrated to the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

, where he stayed from 1945 to 1960, at first as an administrative officer in government and later on creating and developing his own commercial business, also exercising journalism and the socio-political chronicle. Later, he moved to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in 1963, and managed the commercial Office of the Belgian Embassy in Buenos Aires from 1966 to his retirement in 1987."Charles François; Biographical note," at ''isss.org/projects,'' Last modified: 2007/06/10. . François inspired and founded the Group for the Study of Integrated Systems, Argentine National Division of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, in 1976, and was its honorary president. He was an honorary member of the International Federation for Systems Research European Systems Society, and founding editor of the International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, editions of 1997 and 2004 in two volumes. He encouraged its work in progress in course of organization through the Bertalanffy Center of Systems and Cybernetics, member of the International Academy of Systems and Cybernetics Sciences, honorary president of the Latin American Association of Systemics, Honorary Professor of ITBA, and was a visiting professor at various universities and educational institutions in Argentina, Mexico, Perú, Colombia, Venezuela and Brasil, where he encouraged the creation of many study groups. He became a member of systemic boards and integrated the editorial boards of various journals on systems and cybernetics. In 2007 he received the Norbert Wiener golden medal from the American Society for Cybernetics as a tribute for his work on cybernetics. He inspired the "Charles François Price" at the International Academy of Systems and Cybernetics Sciences, intended to promote contributions and participation of young systematists at their international meetings. François died on July 31, 2019.En su honor, el Grupo de Estudio de Sistemas Integrados (GESI) y colaboradores, editó en 2020:Charles François;pionero y mentor de instituciones sistémicas y cibernéticas en América Latina; un homenaje colectivo.

Work

In 1952 François came in contact with

through

Norbert Wiener Norbert Wiener (November 26, 1894 – March 18, 1964) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and philosopher. He became a professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT). A child prodigy, Wiener late ...

's ''

Cybernetics Cybernetics is the transdisciplinary study of circular causal processes such as feedback and recursion, where the effects of a system's actions (its outputs) return as inputs to that system, influencing subsequent action. It is concerned with ...

''. In 1958 he joined the Society for General Systems Research now the International Society for the Systems Sciences. Since 1970, François has participated in numerous meetings of various systems and cybernetics societies. Many courses and seminars on systemics and cybernetics were given by Charles François in Argentina and also in Perú at the IAS; the last edition of them is his "Curso de Teoría General de Sistemas y Cibernética con representaciones gráficas", a CD-ROM disk with more than 280 drawings edited by Group for the Study of Integrated Systems in 2007, also in English.

Publications

Contributions in books: * 1976, ''Cybernétique et Prospective'', Namur: International Association of Cybernetics, 1976. * 1978, ''Introducción à la Prospectiva'' Buenos Aires: Pleamar, 1978. * 1985, ''El uso de Modelos Sistémicos-Cibernéticos como metodología científica'', (Systemic-Cybernetic Models used as scientific methodology) * 1986, ''Enfoques Sistémicos en el Estudio de las Sociedades'' (Systemic Approaches to the Study of Societies). * 1992, ''Diccionario de Teoría General de Sistemas y Cibernética'', Buenos Aires: GESI. The first work of its kind in Spanish (475 terms). * 1997, '' International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics'', edited by Charles François, München: K. G. Saur. The Academic board of this Encyclopedia includes members such as: John N. Warfield, Robert Trappl, Ranulph Glanville, Anthony Judge, Markus Schwaninger, Heiner Benking, Matjaz Mulej, and Gerhard Chroust. *2004 2nd. Edition of the International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics in two volumes. Selected articles and papers: * 1982
"A systemic study of socio-historical systems"
paper 1982. * 1999
"Systemics and Cybernetics in a Historical Perspective, "
* 2000
Hidden long term systemic constraints in present-day socio-economical global mutation of mankind
paper. * 2002
Foreign Debt mechanism: The "Cow in the corral"
paper. * 2004

lecture at the presentation of the 2nd volume of the second edition of the International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, Humboldt University, Saur Library, Berlin, 2004. * 2012

Charles François (* 5. September 1922): 90 years of life in 9 worlds. IFSR Newsletter 2012 Vol. 29 No. 1 Septembe

References

External links

Web archive of Charles François home page
at the International Federation for Systems Research with multiple links.
Charles Francois, A Tribute by Silvia Zweifel
short ISSS video at ''vimeo.com'', 2019.Charles François;pionero y mentor de instituciones sistémicas y cibernéticas en América Latina; un homenaje colectivo. GESI, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20070315103413/http://wwwu.uni-klu.ac.at/gossimit/ifsr/francois/encyclopedia.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Francois, Charles 1922 births 2019 deaths Belgian systems scientists Belgian expatriates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Belgian expatriates in Argentina