Editing Heinz von Foerster (section)

==Biography==
Von Foerster was born in 1911 in [[Vienna]], Austria-Hungary<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] -->, as Heinz von Förster. His paternal grandfather was the Austrian architect {{Ill|Emil von Förster|de}}. His maternal grandmother was [[Marie Lang]], an Austrian feminist, [[Theosophy (Boehmian)|theosophist]], and publisher. He studied physics at the [[Technical University of Vienna]] and at the [[University of Breslau]], where in 1944 he received a [[PhD]] in [[physics]]. His relatives included [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]], [[Erwin Lang]] and [[Hugo von Hofmannsthal]]. [[Ludwig Förster]] was his great-grandfather.<ref name=markoff>{{citation |last=Markoff |first=John |title=Heinz von Foerster, a Leading Information Theorist, Dies at 90 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 9, 2002 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/09/obituaries/09FOER.html}}</ref> His [[Jewish]] roots did not cause him much trouble while he worked in radar laboratories during the [[Nazi era]], as "he hid his ancestry with the help of an employer who chose not to press him for documents on his family."<ref>[[John Markoff]], "[https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/09/us/heinz-von-foerster-90-dies-was-information-theorist.html Heinz von Foerster, 90, Dies; Was Information Theorist]", November 9, 2002, ''[[The New York Times]]''</ref>

He moved to the US in 1949 and worked at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]], where he was a professor of electrical engineering from 1951 to 1975. He was also professor of [[biophysics]] (1962–1975) and director of the [[Biological Computer Laboratory]] (1958–1975). Additionally, in 1956–57 and 1963–64, he was a [[Guggenheim Fellow]] and also President of the [http://www.wennergren.org/ Wenner-Gren-Foundation] for anthropological research from 1963 to 1965.<ref name="Constructivism"/>

He knew well and was in conversation with [[John von Neumann]], [[Norbert Wiener]], [[Humberto Maturana]], [[Francisco Varela]], [[Gordon Pask]], [[Gregory Bateson]], [[Lawrence J. Fogel]] and [[Margaret Mead]], among many others. He influenced generations of students as a teacher and an inclusive, enthusiastic collaborator.

He died on October 2, 2002, in [[Pescadero, California]].