John Scales Avery (born in 1933) is a theoretical chemist noted for his research publications in quantum chemistry,

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of th ...

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 ...

, and history of science. Since the early 1990s, Avery has been an active world

peace activist A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world pea ...

. During these years, he was part of a group associated with the

Pugwash Conferences The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is an international organization that brings together scholars and public figures to work toward reducing the danger of armed conflict and to seek solutions to global security threats. It was fo ...

on Science and World Affairs. In 1995, this group received the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...

for their efforts. Presently, he is an Associate Professor in quantum chemistry at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

. His 2003 book ''Information Theory and Evolution'' set forth the view that the phenomenon of

life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

, including its origin and

, that including human

cultural evolution Cultural evolution is an evolutionary theory of social change. It follows from the definition of culture as "information capable of affecting individuals' behavior that they acquire from other members of their species through teaching, imitation a ...

, has it background situated over

, statistical mechanics, and information theory.

Early life

Avery was born in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

to American parents. Avery's parents were both born in the United States, in the state of Michigan, where they studied at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. His father studied medicine while his mother studied bacteriology. After graduation, his parents did research together at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Later, his father did research in a borderline area between

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 ...

and

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

with

Arthur Holly Compton Arthur Holly Compton (September 10, 1892 – March 15, 1962) was an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927 for his 1923 discovery of the Compton effect, which demonstrated the particle nature of electromagnetic radi ...

, discoverer of the "

Compton effect Compton scattering, discovered by Arthur Holly Compton, is the scattering of a high frequency photon after an interaction with a charged particle, usually an electron. If it results in a decrease in energy (increase in wavelength) of the photon ...

", at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. In 1926, his father moved the family to Beirut, where his father worked as a professor of anatomy at the American University of Beirut. The family stayed in Beirut until the start of World War II. It was during these tumultuous years that John Scales Avery was born.

Education

*1950 - graduated, Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass *1954 - B.Sc., physics, M.I.T *1955 - M.Sc., physics,

*1965 - Ph.D., theoretical chemistry, Imperial College, London

Thermodynamics

In his recent 2003 book ''Information Theory and Evolution'' (2nd Edition, 2012), Avery combines information theory with

to account for the phenomenon of life, including its origin and evolution. Since the beginning of the formulation of the

second law of thermodynamics The second law of thermodynamics is a physical law based on universal experience concerning heat and energy interconversions. One simple statement of the law is that heat always moves from hotter objects to colder objects (or "downhill"), unles ...

in the 1860s, which states that the

entropy Entropy is a scientific concept, as well as a measurable physical property, that is most commonly associated with a state of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. The term and the concept are used in diverse fields, from classical thermodynam ...

, or disorder, of an isolated system tends to increase with time, there has been a debate as to how this law relates to the "ordering" process of

. The apparent paradox between the

and the high degree of order and complexity produced by living systems, according to Avery, has its resolution "in the information content of the

Gibbs free energy In thermodynamics, the Gibbs free energy (or Gibbs energy; symbol G) is a thermodynamic potential that can be used to calculate the maximum amount of work that may be performed by a thermodynamically closed system at constant temperature and ...

that enters the biosphere from outside sources." (2nd Edition, 2012)

Activism

Since 1990, Avery has been the Contact Person for Denmark the

on Science and World Affairs. In 1995, Avery was part of a group that shared in the

for their work in the 1990s in organizing the

on Science and World Affairs. In 1998, Avery was elected to the Danish Peace Commission. During the years 1988–1997, Avery was the Technical Advisor at the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

, Regional Office for Europe. In 2004, Avery became the Chairman of the Danish Peace Academy.

Books

*Avery, John. (2012). ''Information Theory and Evolution''. World Scientific. (2nd Edition) *Avery, John. (2005).
Science and Society
', 2nd Ed. (PDF, 375 pgs.). Copenhagen: H.C. Orsted Institute. *Avery, John. (2004).
Calculus and Differential Equations
' – an introductory book. (PDF, 135 pgs.). University of Copenhagen: Pari New Learning Publications. *Avery, John. (2002).
Space-Age Science and Stone-Age Politics
' (PDF, 272 pgs.) Danish Peace Academy: Danish Pugwash Group. *Avery, John (1997) ''Progress, Poverty and Population'', Frank Cass, London, (1997) Scientific books: *Hyperspherical Harmonics and Generalized Sturmians, by J. Avery, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 2000 *Hyperspherical Harmonics; Applications in Quantum Theory, by J. Avery, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1989 *Creation and Annihilation Operators, by J. Avery, McGraw-Hill, 1976 *The Quantum Theory of Atoms, Molecules and Photons, by J. Avery, McGraw-Hill, 1972 As well as more than 150 ww.ki.ku.dk/dokumenter/PDF/Publications-JS-Avery.pdf

References

External links

Biography
- Overview

– faculty page, University of Copenhagen

- Danish Peace Academy
www.johnavery.info/
Official Site {{DEFAULTSORT:Avery, John Scales Living people Scientists from Beirut MIT Department of Physics alumni University of Chicago alumni Alumni of Imperial College London 21st-century American chemists Danish chemists Thermodynamicists 1933 births