Anatol Rapoport Article Index for
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Information About

Anatol Rapoport




Rapoport was born in Lozavaya , Russia . In 1922 , he came to the United States and, in 1928 , he became a Naturalized Citizen . Rapoport initially trained as a Musician to become a virtuoso Pianist performing masterpieces by Classical Composer s. He studied Piano , conducting and composition, at the Staatsakademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst, in Vienna between the years 1929 and 1934 . However due to the rise of Nazism he found it almost impossible to make a career as a Pianist. He shifted career into Mathematics , getting a Ph.D. degree in mathematics, under Nicholas Rashevsky , at the University Of Chicago in 1941 . After which he served in the United States Air Force in Alaska and India , during World War II . He returned to the United States and joined the Committee on Mathematical Biology at the University of Chicago ( 1947 - 1954 ), which was followed by his appointment at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences ( Stanford , California ). There he pioneered in the modeling of parasitism and Symbiosis , researching Cybernetic Theory . This went on to give a conceptual basis for his lifelong work in conflict-and-cooperation.

In 1954 , Anatol Rapoport founded the Society for General Systems Research, along with the researchers Ludwig Von Bertalanffy , Ralph Gerard , and Kenneth Boulding . Since 1970 he has been the Professor (now emeritus) of Psychology and Mathematics in the University Of Toronto , Canada. He is also the Professor for Peace and Conflict Studies.

In 1981 he co-founded the international NGO Science For Peace , and in 1984 he created the famous Tit For Tat strategy for the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma tournament held by Robert Axelrod that year. He was recognized in the 1980s for his contribution to world peace through nuclear conflict restraint by his game theoretic models of psychological Conflict Resolution .


SELECTED WORKS


  • Rapoport, A. (1953). "Spread of information through a population with sociostructural bias: I. Assumption of transitivity." ''Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics'', 15, 523-533.


  • Rapoport, A., Horvath, W.J., (1960) "The theoretical channel capacity of a single neuron as determined by various coding systems". ''Information and Control'', 3(4):335-350.


  • Gerard, R.W., Kluckhohn, C., Rapaport, A. (1956). "Biological and cultural evolution: Some analogies and explorations". ''Behavioral Science'' 1: 6-34.


  • Rapoport, A. (1963). "Mathematical models of social interaction". In R. D. Luce, R. R. Bush, & E. Galanter (Eds.), ''Handbook of Mathematical Psychology'' (Vol. II, pp. 493-579). New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons.


  • Rapoport, A. (1966). ''Two-person game theory: the essential ideas''. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press.


  • Slobodkin L, Rapoport A. (1974). "An optimal strategy of evolution". ''Q. Rev. Biol''. 49:181-200


  • ''Semantics'', Crowell, 1975. Both general semantics along the lines of S.I. Hayakawa 's ''Language in Thought and Action'' and more technical (mathematical and philosophical) material. A valuable survey.


  • ''Certainties and Doubts : A Philosophy of Life'', Black Rose Books, Montreal, 2000. His autobiography.



EXTERNAL LINKS

  • [http://scienceforpeace.sa.utoronto.ca/ Science for Peace website]

  • History of Science for Peace

  • [http://www.isss.org/lumrapo.htm Profile of Anatol Rapoport]