Prigogine Award 2018 Ceremony

The 2018 Prigogine Gold Medal was awarded to Professor Stuart Kauffman, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

The Prigogine Gold Medal 2018 Award Ceremony took place at the University of Siena on Tuesday 4th September 2018, during the first day of the 10th International Conference on Sustainable Development and Planning (SDP).

The Prigogine Medal was established by the University of Siena and the Wessex Institute of Technology in 2004 to honour the memory of Professor Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize Winner for Chemistry.

ILYA PRIGOGINE
Ilya Prigogine was born in Moscow in 1917, and obtained his undergraduate and graduate education in chemistry at the Free University in Brussels. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures. The main theme of his scientific work was the role of time in the physical sciences and biology. He contributed significantly to the understanding of irreversible processes, particularly in systems far from equilibrium. The results of his work have had profound consequences for understanding biological and ecological systems.
Prigogine’s ideas established the basis for ecological systems research. The Prigogine Medal to honour his memory is awarded annually to a leading scientist in the field of ecological systems. All recipients have been deeply influenced by the work of Prigogine.

Previous Prigogine Laureates:
2004 Sven Jorgensen, Denmark
2005 Enzo Tiezzi, Italy
2006 Bernard Patten, USA
2007 Robert Ulanowicz, USA
2008 Ioannis Antoniou, Greece
2009 Emilio del Giudice, Italy
2010 Felix Müller, Germany
2011 Larissa Brizhik, Ukraine
2012 Gerald Pollack, USA
2013 Vladimir Voeikov, Russia
2014 Mae-wan Ho, UK
2015 Bai-Lian Larry Li, USA
2016 Brian Fath, USA
2017 João Carlos Marques, Portugal

The 2018 Medal was awarded to Professor Stuart Kauffman, Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania and affiliate faculty at the Institute for Systems Biology.

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STUART KAUFFMAN
Professor Stuart Kauffman is an American medical doctor, theoretical biologist, and complex systems researcher who studies the origin of life on Earth. He was a professor the Universities of Chicago, Pennsylvania and Calgary. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania and affiliate faculty at the Institute for Systems Biology. He has a number of awards including a MacArthur Fellowship and a Wiener Medal.

He is best known for arguing that the complexity of biological systems and organisms might result as much from self-organisation and far-from-equilibrium dynamics as from Darwinian natural selection as discussed in his book Origins of Order (1993). In 1967 and 1969 Kauffman used random boolean networks to investigate generic self-organising properties of gene regulatory networks. Using these models, he proposed that cell types are dynamical attractors in gene regulatory networks and that cell differentiation can be understood as transitions between attractors. Recent evidence suggests that cell types in humans and other organisms are attractors. In 1971 he suggested that a zygote may not be able to access all the cell type attractors in its gene regulatory network during development and that some of the developmentally inaccessible cell types might be cancer cell types. This suggested the possibility of "cancer differentiation therapy". He also proposed the self-organised emergence of collectively autocatalytic sets of polymers, specifically peptides, for the origin of molecular reproduction, which have found experimental support.

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SPECIAL PRIGOGINE LECTURE
on
A World Beyond Physics: The Emergence and Evolution of Life
delivered by Professor Stuart Kauffman at the University of Siena, Italy, Spain

The emergence and evolution of life is based on physics but is beyond physics. Evolution is an historical process arising from the non-ergodicity of the universe above the level of atoms. Most complex things will never exist. Human hearts exist. Prebiotic chemistry saw the evolution of many organic molecules in complex reaction networks, and the formation of low energy structures such as membranes. Theory and experiments suggest that from this, the spontaneous emergence of self reproducing molecular systems could arise and evolve. Such “collectively autocatalytic systems” cyclically link non-equilibrium processes whose constrained release of energy constitutes “work” to construct the same constraints on those non-equilibrium processes. Cells yoke a set of non-equilibrium processes and constraints on the energy released as work to build their own constraints and reproduce.

Such systems are living, and can propagate their organization with heritable variations, so can be subject to natural selection. In this evolution, these proto-organisms emerge unprestatably, and afford novel niches enabling, not causing, further types of proto-organisms to emerge. With this, unprestatable new functions arise. The ever-changing phase space of evolution includes these functionalities. Since we cannot prestate these ever new functionalities, we can write no laws of motion for this evolution, which is therefor entailed by no laws at all, and thus not reducible to physics. Beyond entailing law, the evolving biosphere literally constructs itself and is the most complex system we know in the universe.

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For further information about the Prigogine Awards, please contact:

Wessex Institute of Technology
Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst
Southampton
SO40 7AA, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 238 029 3223
Fax: +44 (0) 238 029 2853
Email: wit@wessex.ac.uk

See the following Web pages for details of recent Prigogine Awards:

• Sustainable City 2016
• Sustainable City 2017
• Sustainable Development and Planning 2018

Further details of all Prigogine Awards can be found on our dedicated page: Prigogine Award

New Series Editor: "Innovation and Discovery in Russian Science and Engineering"

Professor Stavros Syngellakis, Adjunct Professor of the Wessex Institute, has been appointed as Joint Series Editor of the book series “Innovation and Discovery in Russian Science and Engineering”, published by Springer. He joins Professor Jerry Connor of MIT, USA, in this role.

Prof Syngellakis brings to this position a wealth of experience as an Editor, not only of two of the books in this Series but also of other books and several journals of which he is Editor-in-Chief and a member of the Editorial Boards. In addition, he reviewed many of the proposals for the Series.

Professor Carlos Brebbia established the Series in collaboration with the Ural Federal University (URFU) in Russia. It currently has seven books listed, six of which have already been published, and the seventh is due to appear shortly. The Wessex Institute is eager to pursue and develop this project, following its successful launch and using the considerable contacts and material Prof Brebbia gathered before he left us.

The Wessex Institute has a formal agreement with URFU and this is one of a number of collaborative projects, including conferences and journal publication, that the two institutions have undertaken.

New Chief Academic Officer: Professor Santiago Hernandez

We are pleased to advise that Professor Santiago Hernandez has recently joined us at WIT, as Chief Academic Officer on a part-time basis. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to this position and is a most welcome addition to our senior staff.

Santiago is Full Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Coruna (Spain). He has extensive experience in structural analysis and design in several fields, ranging from long-span bridges to historical buildings and aircraft. He is well known for his expertise in aeroelasticity and for the application of numerical optimization techniques to engineering design. He is an ASCE and IABSE Fellow, an Associate Fellow of AIAA and also possesses the Eminent Scientist Medal from WIT. He has participated in a large number of research projects at national and international level.

Santiago has been involved with WIT for many years, collaborating in the organisation of short courses and conferences. He was appointed to WIT’s Board of Directors in 1991 and has been involved in shaping the strategy of the Institute since that time.

He has almost three hundred scientific publications, has authored several books and edited books written by leading scientists.

Carlos A. Brebbia Memorial

A celebration of the life of Professor Carlos A. Brebbia was held in the grounds of Ashurst Lodge, on Saturday 19th May 2018. A group of 160 people gathered from many countries, including the USA, Russia, Macedonia, Ukraine, Spain, Belgium, Italy and many from around the UK.

The proceedings began with an opening tribute from Alexander Brebbia, son of Carlos, who spoke of his father’s many achievements and strength of character, illustrating his points by way of several delightful and touching anecdotes about Carlos and their relationship through the years. This was followed by a thorough and interesting account of Carlos’ life and career, given by his oldest friend and colleague, Professor Jerry Connor of MIT in the USA.

Alex Brebbia Wessex Institute, UK		Jerry Connor MIT, USA

After breaking for lunch, a programme of shorter, heartfelt and moving tributes began, given by many friends, colleagues and old-WITonians, including:

Prof Stavros Syngellakis Wessex Institute, UK, Board Member	Dr Bob Adey BEASY, UK
Prof Juan Casares Long University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain,  WIT Board Member	Prof Patrick De Wilde, Free University of Brussels, Belgium, WIT Board Member
Dr Taras Filatov Old WITonian (Ukraine)	Prof Mark Hadfield University of Bournemouth, UK
Prof Santiago Hernandez University of Coruna, Spain WIT Board Member	Prof Alain Kassab, University of Central Florida, USA
Prof Mikhail Kozhevnikov, Ural Federal University, Russia	Dr Julian Lewis, MP, UK
Capt Fernando Mengo, Defence Attaché, Argentine Embassy, London, UK	Prof Derek Northwood, University of Windsor, Canada
Prof Giorgio Passerini University of La Marche, Italy, WIT Board Member	Prof Alex Rabasa, University Miguel Hernandez of Elche, Spain
Prof Jon Trevelyn Durham University, UK	Prof Peter Vorobieff University of New Mexico, USA

The occasion was a fitting celebration of Carlos’ life and all that he achieved. It was touching to hear so many of his friends and colleagues expressing their admiration of him and his work, as well as their commitment to continuing his legacy. We are grateful to all who attended and contributed to making this a very special event.

Please see the Carlos Brebbia Obituary page for further information about his life and achievements.

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Obituary - Professor Carlos A. Brebbia

With profound sadness we announce that Professor Carlos A. Brebbia passed away peacefully on Saturday 3rd March 2018.

Carlos was born in Rosario, Argentina, where he completed his first engineering degree, after being educated at Military Colleges in Santa Fe and Buenos Aires. He spent two years after graduation as part of a small team setting up an Institute of Applied Mechanics. Following this he registered at the University of Southampton in England for a higher degree, arranging to carry out his research partly at MIT. This experience set up the basis for his long and close association with the USA.

After obtaining his PhD at Southampton University he worked for the Central Electricity Research Laboratories in the UK, a leading research establishment at the time. He left the Laboratories to take up an academic position at the University of Southampton where he rose from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer and Reader. During his time at Southampton he took leave to become Visiting Professor at many other Universities, including an academic year at Princeton. After having been appointed Full Professor of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, he decided to resign his position and return to the UK to set up the Wessex Institute, of which he was the Founder and Director.

Carlos is renowned throughout the world as the originator of the Boundary Element Method, a technique that generates important research work at the Wessex Institute. He has written many scientific papers, been author of 14 books, co-author of numerous volumes and editor or co-editor of over 500. He also published two non-scientific books, “The New Forest. A Personal View” and “Patagonia, a forgotten Land”. A book on the Paraguayan War in the 19th Century was a work in progress at the time of his death.

He founded several successful international Journals including the International Journals of Safety and Security Engineering, Design & Nature and Ecodynamics, Sustainable Development and Planning, Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements, Energy Production and Management, Heritage Architecture, Transport Development and Integration, and the new International Journal of Environmental Impacts.

He established two International prizes, the highly regarded Prigogine Medal for Ecological Systems Research, co-sponsored by the University of Siena; and the George Green Medal, supported by Elsevier and co-sponsored by the University of Mississippi.

Carlos ran a successful WIT programme of international scientific conferences in different locations throughout the world. He helped the Institute to develop academic links with first class institutions around the world, which has resulted in many more research programmes and collaborative projects.

Carlos held many special honours, including the Medaille de la Ville de Paris, Echelon Argent; Medaille of the Masonnet Foundation, University of Liege, Belgium; Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in the UK; Fellow, and Founding President of the American Society of Civil Engineers UK Chapter; Honorary PhD at the University of Bucharest; Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts;  and Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

In parallel with his academic career, Carlos was a highly successful entrepreneur and founded the Computational Mechanics International Ltd group of companies in 1976. This group’s activities have grown to include software development, engineering consultancy, property investment and publishing. The group works closely with WIT and is responsible for the publishing programme of the Institute which includes, in addition to the conference proceedings, a series of monographs and edited books by some of the foremost scientists in the world.

Whilst we grieve the enormous loss of our Founder and Chairman, whose hard work, determination and achievements during his career are truly inspirational, we know that his earnest desire was for all that he has worked tirelessly to build over many years, to continue to flourish. To this we are firmly committed and so we welcome the continued and future collaboration of our friends and colleagues around the world.

Carlos is survived by his wife, Carolyn, his son Alexander and daughter Isabel, and six grandchildren.

WIT Summer Barbeque 2017

The traditional Wessex Institute of Technology (WIT) BBQ was held over the weekend in the grounds of the Ashurst Lodge Campus, with the participation of many colleagues and members of staff, as well as suppliers and friends of WIT.

The weather – as usual – was exceptionally good, with blue, sunny skies and very warm. The main course was the usual, excellent roasted Hampshire lamb with a variety of salads and side dishes.

The occasion brought together colleagues from many different parts of the world, including the USA and several countries in Europe. Special guests were there, including the New Forest MPs, Mr Christopher Chope, who helped WIT in its initial stages, and Dr Julian Lewis, who has been a most active supporter of the Institute.

Among the attendees were the first two West Point Cadets who are visiting WIT to complete their final year research projects.

Music was provided by the saxophonist duo, DC Saxes, who played a series of delightful pieces, most appropriate for the event, creating just the right atmosphere for a very enjoyable afternoon summer party. They are highly regarded and in great demand.


The annual BBQ is always a very happy occasion and a great way for WIT to express its gratitude to its many collaborators around the world.

ASCE UK Meeting 2017

A meeting of the ASCE/UK Group took place at the Wessex Institute to keep the UK members abreast of new developments in the Society. WIT hosts the ASCE/UK Group and organises events for the members to attend.

This is however the first time that the President of Region 10 (ie which comprises the rest of the world except the USA) participated in a meeting. He is Professor Constantine Memos from the University of Athens.

The meeting started by Carlos A Brebbia, Director of WIT, welcoming the delegates and giving a short presentation on the work carried out at Wessex Institute. He emphasised that the objective of WIT is to disseminate technical knowledge at an international level. He explained the different types of research projects carried out using the latest computational tools developed by the Institute. As the Institute is self-supporting, the emphasis has always been in carrying out research and development work of interest to practitioners.

Carlos also mentioned that in addition to a substantial amount of R&D work for industry, WIT organises a programme of international courses and conferences per year which bring together members of the community. The meetings tend to focus on the exchange of information in a friendly atmosphere.

Those conferences provide as well a substantial number of papers which are offered in Open Access format on the Institute website (www.witpress.com/elibrary). The Publications Division provides an important support of WIT activities.

Following Carlos’ address, the President of the Region 10, Professor Constantine Memos, described some of the activities of the constitutive groups.

Constantine proceeded to give a short presentation on “Sustainability in Coast Studies”. The emphasis was to assess the potential for ecological enhancement through the use of porous breakwaters.

Another technical presentation was by Prof Patrick de Wilde of ASCE (Belgium) and a member of the Board of Directors of WIT, on “Challenges of Implementing State of the Art Structural Codes in a Developing Country”.

Prof Santiago Hernandez from La Coruña University, Fellow of ASCE and member of the Board of Directors of WIT, gave a talk on “Optimum Design of Long Span Bridges”.

The last presentation by Prof Stefano Mambretti from the Politecnico de Milano, and also a member of the Board of Directors at WIT, was on the topic of “Optimisation of Milano Water Supply Network”.

The presentations were followed by discussions and comments from the audience.

After that a light lunch was offered, subsequently an informal meeting of the ASCE/Group to discuss the way forward.