Philip Keith M'Pherson (1927 - 27 April 2016) was a British

systems engineer Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinking p ...

, consultant, Emeritus Professor of

Systems Engineering Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their enterprise life cycle, life cycles. At its core, systems engineering util ...

& Management at the

City University London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...

,World Future Society (1987) ''The Futures Research Directory: Individuals''. p. 142 and founder of the Department of Systems Science at City University,Janes, F. R., and R. Jowitt. "Applications of interactive management in planning for a university department." Systems Prospects. Springer US, 1989. 243-250. also known as developer of the Inclusive Valuation Methodology.

Biography

Born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, United Kingdom, M'Pherson was educated as an engineer at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 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 ...

. He started his career as "hard-hat practitioner"Philip M'Pherson
technical/invited speakers/biography at incose.org. 2006 at the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, where he became gunnery engineer officer specialized in

fire-control system A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a ...

s. In 1955 he was sent to MIT's Instrumentation Laboratory run by

Charles Stark Draper Charles Stark "Doc" Draper (October 2, 1901 – July 25, 1987) was an American scientist and engineer, known as the "father of inertial navigation". He was the founder and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Instrumentati ...

to work on the development of

Inertial navigation system An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (dire ...

s sharing ideas with pioneers as

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

and

Harold Chestnut Harold (Hall) Chestnut (November 25, 1917 – August 29, 2001) was an American electrical engineer, control engineer and manager at General Electric and author, who helped establish the fields of control theory and systems engineering. Biography ...

. Early 1960s M'Pherson left the Royal Navy and started for the

United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ...

, where he founded a research group focussed on the controlling of nuclear power reactors. They particularly focussed on "constructing mathematical models of nuclear reactor spatial dynamics using early digital computers with punched tape input-output." Mid-1960s he returned to the academic world to

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...

. In 1967 he was appointed Professor of Systems Science at the

from 1967 to 1983, and Professor of Systems Engineering and Management from 1983 until his retirement in 1989. In 1972 he co-founded the Department of Systems Science at City University in London, which he headed for years. From 1981 to 1989 he was also Pro-vice-chancellor at the City University in London. Beside his academic work M'Pherson worked as a management consultant and was director of the Systems & Value Limited company. In 2006 M'Pherson was awarded the

INCOSE Pioneer Award INCOSE Pioneer Award is an annual prize for people who have made significant pioneering contributions to the field of Systems Engineering given by the INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering) since 1997. Winners SourceINCOSE* 1997: ...

, acknowledging that "his appreciation for precise mathematical modeling in system design influenced submarine design for decades to follow... His lasting contribution to systems engineering is a clarity of understanding and quantifying the dynamic relationships among and within complex systems." M'Pherson died gracefully on 27 April 2016 at Littleport Grange, near Ely, Cambridgeshire in his 90th year.

Work

M’Pherson's research interests have been in the field of "decision models for policy research and systems design, value systems, dynamics and management of technology change technology assessment."

Systems science

In the 1974 article "A perspective on systems science and systems philosophy"M'Pherson, P. K. (1974). A perspective on systems science and systems philosophy. ''Futures'', 6, pp. 219–239 M'Pherson presented a survey of systems science and

systems philosophy Systems philosophy is a discipline aimed at constructing a new philosophy (in the sense of worldview) by using systems concepts. The discipline was first described by Ervin Laszlo in his 1972 book ''Introduction to Systems Philosophy: Toward a New P ...

intended to "provide an integrated, if personal, view of the ideas within the contemporary systems movement." According to M'Pherson: :''Systems science is the ordered arrangement of knowledge acquired from the study of systems in the observable world, together with the application of this knowledge to the design of man-made systems.''M’Pherson (1974, p. 229); as cited by: Hieronymi, A. (2013), Understanding Systems Science: A Visual and Integrative Approach. ''Syst. Res.''. M'Pherson concluded that reductionism and holism don't have to contradict, but that "philosophy, theories and methods in systems science and systems philosophy offer a means for bringing reductionism and holism into a satisfactory alliance."

Meaning and Value of Systems Engineering

M’Pherson acknowledged (2006) that the definition and meaning of Systems Engineering (SE) is the subject of ongoing discussion since it emerged in the 1950s. In this discussion many stakeholders are involved from individual systems engineers, corporate providers, and human operators inside the system to the end-users, who use the system's results. In the context according to M’Pherson Systems Engineering "has the potential to contribute considerable positive intangible value, as well as reducing costs. But that value will not be fully realised until society can come to terms with 21st century complexity and appreciate the endeavours of the systems engineer of the future as the Master of Complexity."

Inclusive Value Methodology

The Inclusive Value Methodology is a method for the measurement of the assets of projects and organizations.

Publications

M'Pherson has authored and co-authored various publications in the field of systems engineering. A selection: * M'Pherson, P. K. "A perspective on systems science and systems philosophy." Futures 6.3 (1974): 219–239. * M'Pherson, P. K. The Design of Multidimensional Value Criteria for Use in Decision, Design and Technology Assessment. City University, 1979. * M'Pherson, P. K. "Systems engineering: an approach to whole-system design." Radio and Electronic Engineer 50.11.12 (1980): 545–558. * M'Pherson, P. K. "A framework for systems engineering design." Radio and Electronic Engineer 51.2 (1981): 59–93. * M'Pherson, P. K. "Systems engineering: a proposed definition." Physical Science, Measurement and Instrumentation, Management and Education-Reviews, IEE Proceedings A 133.6 (1986): 330–331. * M'Pherson, Philip K. "Business value modelling." Aslib proceedings. Vol. 50. No. 7. MCB UP Ltd, 1998. * M’Pherson, Philip K., and Stephen Pike.
Accounting, empirical measurement and intellectual capital
" Journal of Intellectual Capital 2.3 (2001): 246–260.

References

External links

Philip M'Pherson
Incose {{DEFAULTSORT:MPherson, Philip 1927 births 2016 deaths Systems engineers Alumni of the University of Oxford Academics of City, University of London