Howard H. Pattee

Howard H. Pattee
Born(1926-10-05)October 5, 1926
Pasadena, California, U.S.
DiedJuly 29, 2026(2026-07-29) (aged 99)
EducationBA, Stanford University, 1948
PhD Physics, Stanford University, 1953
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Workplaces
Thesis The Compound Reflection X-ray Microscope, Stanford, 1953.
Paul H. Kirkpatrick
Doctoral students
Websitewww.binghamton.edu/ssie/people/pattee.html

Howard Hunt Pattee (October 5, 1926 – July 29, 2026) was an American biologist and academic who was a Professor at Binghamton University and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He graduated at Stanford University in 1948 and completed a Ph.D. there in 1953.

Academics

Pattee's main research interests were theoretical biology with a focus on origin of life, artificial life, biosemiotics, semiotic control of dynamic systems, and the physics of codes and symbols. His many contributions to the "symbol-matter" problem within the cell have had much influence on theoretical biology, biosemiotics, complex systems and artificial life.[1][2] Books by other authors that have built upon his work include The Consciousness Instinct by Michael Gazzaniga[3] and Behavior and Culture in One Dimension: Sequences, Affordances, and the Evolution of Complexity by his former Ph.D. student Dennis P. Waters.[4]

Death

Pattee died on July 29, 2026, at the age of 99.[5]

Eponymous species

  • In 2019, a lichen species new to science, Catillaria patteeana, was named for Dr. Pattee.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Rocha, Luis M. (2001). "The physics and evolution of symbols and codes: reflections on the work of Howard Pattee". Biosystems. 60 (1–3): 1–4. doi:10.1016/s0303-2647(01)00103-4. PMID 11325499.
  2. ↑ Umerez, Jon (17 October 2009). "Where Does Pattee's "How Does a Molecule Become a Message?" Belong in the History of Biosemiotics?". Biosemiotics. 2 (3): 269–290. doi:10.1007/s12304-009-9064-2.
  3. ↑ Gazzaniga, Michael (2018). The consciousness instinct: Unraveling the mystery of how the brain makes the mind. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9780374715502.
  4. ↑ Waters, Dennis (2021). Behavior and Culture in One Dimension: Sequences, Affordances, and the Evolution of Complexity. Routledge. ISBN 9781000359565.
  5. ↑ "Howard Hunt Pattee (October 5, 1926 – July 29, 2026)". Binghamton University. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  6. ↑ Waters, Dennis P.; Lendemer, James C. (2019). "The Lichens and Allied Fungi of Mercer County, New Jersey" (PDF). Opuscula Philolichenum. 18: 17–51.

Publications


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