Gerard de Zeeuw
Encyclopedia
Gerard de Zeeuw is a Dutch
scientist
and professor Mathematical modelling of complex social systems at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
, in the former Dutch Indies, to relatively well-to-do middle class parents and one older brother. Gerard spent part of the Second World War in Japanese prison camps. In secondary school a Dutch professor of sociology, Free van Heek, allowed him
access to his personal library and stimulated him to write his first paper—about action. He studied in Mathematics
and physics
at the Leiden University
, and continued with Statistics
and Econometrics
at the Erasmus University
with Jan Tinbergen
en Henk Theil. At the Stanford University
he further studied mathematical psychology
, with Patrick Suppes
en Bob Estes. Back in Holland at the University of Amsterdam he received his Ph.D. with the thesis entitled Model thinking in psychology.
De Zeeuw worked almost four decades at the University of Amsterdam from 1964 until 2001. Since 1974 he has been full professor, charged with 'Research methodology' in the areas of adult education, social work and social helping, community development and social theory. Since 1993 he is full professor in the University of Amsterdam charged with Mathematical modelling of complex social systems. Since 1994 he is also visiting professor at the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside in the area of systems and management, and at the London School of Economics
in the field of social and organizational psychology.
During three years he lectured at the Agricultural University of Wageningen
. He was elected twice as Fellow of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study
(NIAS) in Wassenaar, the Netherlands.
De Zeeuw has sat on the Editorial Boards of the "Journals of Statistica Neerlandica" and "Systemica", and was Editor-in-chief of this Journal. In the 1990s he became associate editor of the Systems Research and Behavioral Science
and the Journal of Research Practice
since its beginning in 2005.
Gerard de Zeeuw has been organizationally active. With Albert Hanken in 1970 he was cofounder and first president of the Dutch Systems Group
. With the Society for General Systems Research
and others in 1980 they founded the International Federation for Systems Research
, first presidented by George Klir
until 1986 and by Gerard de Zeeuw from 1992 to 1994. At the University of Amsterdam he has been dean of the Faculty of Andragology, Chair of the department of research methodology in the Faculty of Psychology, and Board member of the university. He is on the Advisory Board of the International Institute for General Systems Studies
. He is extraordinary member of the Dutch Institute of Psychologists, for his efforts to promote the study of psychology, and honorary member of the United Kingdom Systems Society. He organized more than 100 conferences, in different disciplines.
Some of his old students are the scientists Debiprasad Dash and Hector Ponce, editors of the Journal of Research Practice
, and Dr John McManus Professor and Chair of Leadership and Development at York St John University in the United Kingdom.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
and professor Mathematical modelling of complex social systems at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
Biography
Gerard de Zeeuw was born in 1936 in Banjoewangi IndonesiaIndonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, in the former Dutch Indies, to relatively well-to-do middle class parents and one older brother. Gerard spent part of the Second World War in Japanese prison camps. In secondary school a Dutch professor of sociology, Free van Heek, allowed him
access to his personal library and stimulated him to write his first paper—about action. He studied in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at the Leiden University
Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
, and continued with Statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
and Econometrics
Econometrics
Econometrics has been defined as "the application of mathematics and statistical methods to economic data" and described as the branch of economics "that aims to give empirical content to economic relations." More precisely, it is "the quantitative analysis of actual economic phenomena based on...
at the Erasmus University
Erasmus University
Erasmus University Rotterdam is a university in the Netherlands, located in Rotterdam. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th century humanist and theologian...
with Jan Tinbergen
Jan Tinbergen
Jan Tinbergen , was a Dutch economist. He was awarded the first Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in 1969, which he shared with Ragnar Frisch for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes...
en Henk Theil. At the Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
he further studied mathematical psychology
Mathematical psychology
Mathematical psychology is an approach to psychological research that is based on mathematical modeling of perceptual, cognitive and motor processes, and on the establishment of law-like rules that relate quantifiable stimulus characteristics with quantifiable behavior...
, with Patrick Suppes
Patrick Suppes
Patrick Colonel Suppes is an American philosopher who has made significant contributions to philosophy of science, the theory of measurement, the foundations of quantum mechanics, decision theory, psychology, and educational technology...
en Bob Estes. Back in Holland at the University of Amsterdam he received his Ph.D. with the thesis entitled Model thinking in psychology.
De Zeeuw worked almost four decades at the University of Amsterdam from 1964 until 2001. Since 1974 he has been full professor, charged with 'Research methodology' in the areas of adult education, social work and social helping, community development and social theory. Since 1993 he is full professor in the University of Amsterdam charged with Mathematical modelling of complex social systems. Since 1994 he is also visiting professor at the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside in the area of systems and management, and at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
in the field of social and organizational psychology.
During three years he lectured at the Agricultural University of Wageningen
Wageningen University
Wageningen University and Research Centre is a Dutch public university in Wageningen, The Netherlands. It consists of Wageningen University, the Van Hall-Larenstein School of Higher Professional Education, and the former agricultural research institutes of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture...
. He was elected twice as Fellow of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study
Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study
The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences in Wassenaar, the Netherlands, is an independent research institute in the field of the humanities and social and behavioural sciences founded in 1970...
(NIAS) in Wassenaar, the Netherlands.
De Zeeuw has sat on the Editorial Boards of the "Journals of Statistica Neerlandica" and "Systemica", and was Editor-in-chief of this Journal. In the 1990s he became associate editor of the Systems Research and Behavioral Science
Systems Research and Behavioral Science
Systems Research and Behavioral Science is an international scientific journal for theory and research in the fields of systems sciences....
and the Journal of Research Practice
Journal of Research Practice
Journal of Research Practice is a peer-reviewed electronic journal with a transdisciplinary focus, published as an open access journal, i.e., full-text access is free to all readers. It uses Open Journal Systems to manage the online publication process...
since its beginning in 2005.
Gerard de Zeeuw has been organizationally active. With Albert Hanken in 1970 he was cofounder and first president of the Dutch Systems Group
Dutch Systems Group
The Dutch Systems Group, or Netherlands Society for Systems Research or Systeemgroep Nederland, is a society in the Netherlands for systems theory, and its applications...
. With the Society for General Systems Research
Society for General Systems Research
The Society for General Systems Research is predecessor of the current International Society for the Systems Sciences , known to be one the first interdisciplinary and international co-operations in the field of systems theory and systems science...
and others in 1980 they founded the International Federation for Systems Research
International Federation for Systems Research
The International Federation for Systems Research is an international federation for global and local societies in the field of systems science...
, first presidented by George Klir
George Klir
George Jiri Klir is a Czech-American computer scientist and professor of systems sciences at the Center for Intelligent Systems at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York.- Biography :...
until 1986 and by Gerard de Zeeuw from 1992 to 1994. At the University of Amsterdam he has been dean of the Faculty of Andragology, Chair of the department of research methodology in the Faculty of Psychology, and Board member of the university. He is on the Advisory Board of the International Institute for General Systems Studies
International Institute for General Systems Studies
The International Institute for General Systems Studies is an American non-profit scholastic organization for the advancement of scientific studies and education in Systems science and Systemic research with applications in all branches of science and human affairs.The International Institute for...
. He is extraordinary member of the Dutch Institute of Psychologists, for his efforts to promote the study of psychology, and honorary member of the United Kingdom Systems Society. He organized more than 100 conferences, in different disciplines.
Some of his old students are the scientists Debiprasad Dash and Hector Ponce, editors of the Journal of Research Practice
Journal of Research Practice
Journal of Research Practice is a peer-reviewed electronic journal with a transdisciplinary focus, published as an open access journal, i.e., full-text access is free to all readers. It uses Open Journal Systems to manage the online publication process...
, and Dr John McManus Professor and Chair of Leadership and Development at York St John University in the United Kingdom.
Publications
De Zeeuw has written a dozen books and more than 150 articles. Books, a selection:- 1977. Decision making and change in human affairs : proceedings of the fifth research conference on subjective probability, utility, and decision making, Darmstadt, 1-4 September, 1975. ed. by Helmut Jungermann and Gerard de Zeeuw. Dordrecht [etc.] : Reidel.
- 1979. Context and Time and Problems of Context. With P. van den Eeden (eds.). Amsterdam: V.U.-Boekhandel
- 1983. Problems of Levels and Boundaries, With A. Pedretti (eds.) London and Zurich, Princelet Editions
- 1991. Collective support systems and their users. With Ranulph Glanville (eds.). Amsterdam : Thesis.
- 1993. Interactive interfaces and human networks. With Ranulph Glanville. Amsterdam : Thesis.
- 1995. Problems of Values and Invariants, With Ranulph GlanvilleRanulph GlanvilleRanulph Glanville is a British freelance researcher and theoretician in both architecture and cybernetics.- Biography :Glanville studied architecture at the Architectural Association from 1964 to 1971...
(eds.). Amsterdam: Thesis Publishers. - 1996. Knowledge (Dis)Appearance. (Eds.) Delft: Delft University Press.
- 2000. Problems of Action and Observation, Southsea and Amsterdam. With Ranulph Glanville (eds.).
External links
- Gerard de Zeeuw, biography 2007.
- Festschrift Professor Gerard de Zeeuw website with many links, 2002.
- Inaugural Lecture 3 June 2008.