Editing Ludwig von Bertalanffy (section)

== Biography ==
Ludwig von Bertalanffy was born and grew up in the little village of Atzgersdorf (now [[Liesing]]) near [[Vienna]]. Ludwig's mother Caroline Agnes<ref>(de) [http://data.matricula-online.eu/de/oesterreich/wien/23-atzgersdorf/01-15/?pg=339 Taufbuch Wien-Atzgersdorf, Vol. 15, p. 333]</ref> Vogel was seventeen when she married the thirty-four-year-old Gustav. Ludwig von Bertalanffy grew up as an only child educated at home by private tutors until he was ten and his parents divorced, both remarried outside the Catholic Church in civil ceremonies.<ref>Mark Davidson (1983). ''Uncommon Sense: The Life and Thought of Ludwig Von Bertalanffy''. Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher. p.49</ref> When he arrived at his [[Gymnasium (Germany)|Gymnasium]] (a form of grammar school) he was already well habituated in learning by reading, and he continued to study on his own. His neighbour, the famous biologist [[Paul Kammerer]], became a mentor and an example to the young Ludwig.<ref name="bertalanffy.org">[http://www.bertalanffy.org/c_71.html Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science, page: His Life - Bertalanffy's Origins and his First Education]. Retrieved 2009-04-27 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725070225/http://www.bertalanffy.org/c_71.html |date=July 25, 2011 }}</ref>

The Bertalanffy family had roots in the 16th century nobility of Hungary which included several scholars and court officials.<ref name="TEW89">T.E. Weckowicz (1989). ''[http://www.richardjung.cz/bert1.pdf Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1901-1972): A Pioneer of General Systems Theory]''. Working paper Feb 1989. p.2</ref> His grandfather Charles Joseph von Bertalanffy (1833–1912) had settled in Austria and was a state theatre director in [[Klagenfurt]], [[Graz]] and Vienna, which were important sites in imperial Austria. Ludwig's father Gustav von Bertalanffy (1861–1919) was a prominent railway [[Business administration|administrator]]. On his mother's side Ludwig's grandfather Joseph Vogel was an imperial counsellor and a wealthy Vienna publisher. 

In 1918, Bertalanffy started his studies at the university level in philosophy and art history, first at the [[University of Innsbruck]] and then at the University of Vienna. Ultimately, Bertalanffy had to make a choice between studying [[philosophy of science]] and [[biology]]; he chose the latter because, according to him, one could always become a philosopher later, but not a biologist. In 1926 he finished his PhD thesis (''Fechner und das Problem der Integration höherer Ordnung'', translated title: ''Fechner and the Problem of Higher-Order Integration'') on the psychologist and philosopher [[Gustav Theodor Fechner]].<ref name="bertalanffy.org"/> For the next six years he concentrated on a project of "theoretical biology" which focused on the philosophy of biology. He received his [[habilitation]] in 1934 in "theoretical biology".<ref name="DAP">{{cite journal|last1=Drack|first1=Manfred|last2=Apfalter|first2=Wilfried|last3=Pouvreau|first3=David|title=On the Making of a System Theory of Life: Paul A Weiss and Ludwig von Bertalanffy's Conceptual Connection|journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology|volume=82|issue=4|pmc=2874664|pages=349–373|date=11 March 2017|pmid=18217527|doi=10.1086/522810}}</ref>

Bertalanffy was appointed [[Privatdozent]] at the [[University of Vienna]] in 1934. The post yielded little income, and Bertalanffy faced continuing financial difficulties. He applied for promotion to the status of associate professor, but funding from the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] enabled him to make a trip to [[Chicago]] in 1937 to work with [[Nicolas Rashevsky]]. He was also able to visit the [[Marine Biological Laboratory]] in [[Massachusetts]].<ref name="DAP"/>

Bertalanffy was still in the US when he heard of the [[Anschluss]] in March 1938. However, his attempts to remain in the US failed, and he returned to Vienna in October of that year.<ref name="DAP"/> Within a month of his return, he joined the [[Nazi Party]], which facilitated his promotion to professor at the University of Vienna in 1940.<ref name="DAP"/> During the Second World War, he linked his "organismic" philosophy of biology to the dominant Nazi ideology, principally that of the [[Führerprinzip]].<ref name="DAP"/>

Following the defeat of Nazism, Bertalanffy found [[denazification]] problematic and left Vienna in 1948. He moved to the [[University of London]] (1948–49); the [[Université de Montréal]] (1949); the [[University of Ottawa]] (1950–54); the [[University of Southern California]] (1955–58); the [[Menninger Foundation]] (1958–60); the [[University of Alberta]] (1961–68); and the [[University at Buffalo, The State University of New York|State University of New York at Buffalo]] (SUNY) (1969–72).

In 1972, he died from a heart attack.

===Family life===
Bertalanffy met his wife, Maria, in April 1924 in the Austrian Alps. They were hardly ever apart for the next forty-eight years.<ref>Davidson, p. 51</ref> She wanted to finish studying but never did, instead devoting her life to Bertalanffy's career. Later, in Canada, she would work both for him and with him in his career, and after his death she compiled two of Bertalanffy's last works. They had a son, Felix D. Bertalanffy (1926-1999), who was a professor at the [[University of Manitoba]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bertalanffy, Felix D - University of Manitoba Archives |url=https://umlarchives.lib.umanitoba.ca/bertalanffy-felix-d |website=umlarchives.lib.umanitoba.ca}}</ref> and followed in his father's footsteps by making his profession in the field of cancer research.