Dr. Hasan Özbekhan (1921February 12, 2007) was a

Turkish American Turkish Americans () or American Turks are Americans of ethnic Turkish origin. The term "Turkish Americans" can therefore refer to ethnic Turkish immigrants to the United States, as well as their American-born descendants, who originate eith ...

systems scientist 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 ...

cyberneticist 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 ...

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and planner who was

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

of Management at the

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. He applied the field-of-

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 ...

to global problems, helped inspire the group of planners, diplomats, scientists and academics who came together as the

Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing list of global issues, global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in R ...

.Jeremy Pearce (2007)
Hasan Ozbekhan, 86, Economist Who Helped Found Global Group, Dies
New York Times February 26, 2007.

Biography

Hasan Özbekhan was born in what was then the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in 1921, into a diplomatic family. He studied at the Lycée Chateaubriand in Rome, and then studied Law and Political and Administrative sciences at the Faculte de Droit and the

École Libre des Sciences Politiques Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and his graduate studies at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

. He undertook his postgraduate work at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

after being elected to the Leverhume Fellowship.Hasan Özbekhan
ISSS website, 2003. Retrieved 25 April 2008. In the 1960s, Ozbekhan worked as

management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...

to large

multinational corporation A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...

s. The work he did for governments includes Science Policy design for Turkey and a large study for the French Government analyzing the nature of present events that, most probably, will shape the future of Paris. The recommendations derived from these analyses currently constitute the basis of the policies adopted by the French Government with respect to the city's long-term development. From 1963 to 1969, he was principal scientist and director of planning at the

System Development Corporation System Development Corporation (SDC) was a computer software company based in Santa Monica, California. Initially created as a division of the RAND Corporation in December 1955 (under the name System Development Division) and established as an ind ...

, a military research group and software development company in Santa Monica, California. In 1970, he started working at the

on the faculty of the Wharton School, where he became Professor of

Operations Research Operations research () (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a branch of applied mathematics that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve management and ...

and

Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

, and Chairman of the Graduate Group in the Social Systems Sciences Department. From 1986 until his retirement in 1992 he was Professor of

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

at the

. He has been a Fellow of the

Royal Economic Society The Royal Economic Society (RES) is a professional association and learned society that promotes the study of economics. Originally established in 1890 as the British Economic Association, it was incorporated by royal charter on 2 December 1902. ...

, and held membership in The Economic Club of New York, the

American Economic Association The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics, with approximately 23,000 members. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Review, an ...

, the National Academy of Economics and Political Science, The Society of Business Advisory Professions, the Comité National Belge de l'Organisation Scientifique, the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy, Mankind 2000, Futuribles. He died on February 12, 2007, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Work

Özbekhan applied the field-of-systems theory to global problems, helped inspire the group of planners, diplomats, scientists and academics who came together as the Club of Rome. He wrote a paper, "The Predicament of Mankind," that became an influential core document of the group, addressing issues of energy, overpopulation, depletion of resources and environmental degradation. In the 1970s Özbekhan was co founder and first director of

The Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy. It consists ...

, with Aurelio Peccei an Italian Industrialist, and

Alexander Christakis Alexander "Aleco" Christakis (; born 1937) is a Greek American social scientist, systems scientist and cyberneticist, former faculty member of several Universities, organizational consultant and member of the Club of Rome, known for his "study an ...

, a

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and systems research designer. Özbekhan wrote the original prospectus for The Club of Rome, ''The Predicament of Mankind''. This document served as vision for systems scientists who, under the leadership of

and the 21st Century Agoras developed the science of

structured dialogic design Structuring, also known as smurfing in banking jargon, is the practice of executing financial transactions such as making bank deposits in a specific pattern, calculated to avoid triggering financial institutions to file reports required by law ...

. Özbekhan is credited for the formulation of the Axiom of Engagement, which states that 'it is unethical to try to change any socio-technical system without the explicit permission and participation of those involved'. The related Requisite Law of Action states that 'any attempts to do so are bound to fail' (Law of Requisite Action; Yiannis Laouris). Together with

Robert Jungk Robert Jungk (; born ''Robert Baum'', also known as ''Robert Baum-Jungk''; 11 May 1913 – 14 July 1994) was an Austrian writer, journalist, historian and peace campaigner. He wrote mostly on matters relating to nuclear weapons. Life Jungk was ...

Johan Galtung Johan Vincent Galtung (24 October 1930 – 17 February 2024) was a Norwegian sociologist and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 an ...

and many others he was member of MANKIND 2000.

Publications

* 1957, The Isle of Prince

* 1968, ''Toward a General Theory of Planning''. * 1970, ''The Predicament of Mankind''. Report to the Club of Rome.

References

External links

Club of Rome reports

Remembering Hasan Özbekhan
in blogora.net

Futures Creation
an
website for Hasan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Özbekhan, Hasan 1921 births 2007 deaths Turkish scientists American systems scientists Turkish systems scientists Cyberneticists Turkish academics Turkish emigrants to the United States Alumni of the London School of Economics Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania faculty Alumni of the University of Cambridge American academics of Turkish descent 20th-century Turkish philosophers Turkish expatriates in Italy Turkish expatriates in France Turkish expatriates in the United Kingdom