John Andrew Dillon, Jr. (1923 – February 22, 2005) was an American

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 caus ...

, administrator, Professor at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

, and founder and first director of the Systems Science Institute at the

Biography

John Dillon served in the

U.S. Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during the course of the war, where he worked on the development of Radar systems and guided missiles. After the war, Dillon returned to his education, receiving a BS in

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

and an MS and Ph.D. in 1954 from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

. In 1954 Dillon joined the faculty at

, where in 1963 he got promoted to full Professor and chair of the Brown Physics Department. In 1966 he went to the

as Dean of the Graduate School, where he taught physics until he retired in 1986. He also was dean of graduate studies until 1990 at

Spalding University Spalding University is a private Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is affiliated with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. History Spalding University traces its origins to Nazareth Academy, one of the oldest educational instituti ...

, where he'd previously been provost. In 1986, he was awarded the title of Distinguished Teaching Professor and became an associate in the Department of Community Health of the School of Medicine.SPS Newsletter 2004–05
May 2005. Retrieved 8 June 2008. From 1972 until 1978 Dillon was vice president of academic affairs at the University of Louisville. In 1979, Dillon established the interdisciplinary Systems Science Institute, and became university coordinator for energy and environmental affairs,
Brown Alumni Magazine, 2005. Retrieved 8 June 2008. In 1956 Dillon was among the first scientists to joint the

Society for General Systems Research The International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) is a worldwide organization for systems sciences. The overall purpose of the ISSS is: :"to promote the development of conceptual frameworks based on general system theory, as well as their ...

, now International Society for the Systems Sciences, where in 1985 he served as president.

Publications

;Books * 1949. ''The Electrolytic Polishing of Silver Single Crystals''.

. * 1954. ''Adsorption of Carbon Dioxide on Nickel Single Crystal Surfaces''. Brown University. * 1981. ''Paradigms in changing times : proceedings of the Tenth Annual Conference of the Southeastern Region, April 21–23, 1981''. Edited by Rammohan K. Ragade, John A. Dillon, Jr. ; sponsored by Systems Science Institute,

. * 1982. ''Energetics and Systems''. Edited with

W.J. Mitsch William Mitsch, born March 29, 1947 in Wheeling, West Virginia USA, is an ecosystem ecologist and ecological engineer who was co-laureate of the 2004 Stockholm Water Prize in August 2004 as a result of a career in wetland ecology and restoration, ...

, R.K. Ragade and R.W. Bosserman. Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Ann Arbor. * 1982. ''Foundations of general systems theory''. Intersystems Publications. ;Articles: * 1972. "Research and the Universities". With James W. McGrath and Dale C. Ray. In: ''

The Journal of Higher Education ''The Journal of Higher Education'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering higher education. The journal was established in 1930. It is published by Taylor & Francis. Previously, it was published by Ohio State University Press. Th ...

'', Vol. 43, No. 4 (April 1972), pp. 257–266 * 1980. "The Evolution of the American Urban University". In: ''

Urban Education ''Urban Education'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers the field of urban education. The journal's editor-in-chief is H. Richard Milner (Vanderbilt University). It was established in 1965 and is published by SAGE Publicatio ...

'', Vol. 15, No. 1, 33–48 (1980)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillon, John A. 1923 births 2005 deaths Fordham University alumni Brown University alumni Brown University faculty University of Louisville faculty Spalding University faculty 20th-century American physicists American systems scientists Fellows of the American Physical Society United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Presidents of the International Society for the Systems Sciences