Brian Goodwin

Brian Carey Goodwin (25 March 1931 – 15 July 2009) was a Canadian mathematician and biologist, a Professor Emeritus at the Open University and a founder of theoretical biology and biomathematics. He introduced the use of complex systems and generative models in developmental biology. He suggested that a reductionist view of nature fails to explain complex features, controversially proposing the structuralist theory that morphogenetic fields might substitute for natural selection in driving evolution. He was also a visible member of the Third Culture movement. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, he studied biology at McGill University and then emigrated to the UK under a Rhodes Scholarship to study mathematics at Oxford. He obtained his PhD at the University of Edinburgh, presenting the thesis 'Studies in the general theory of development and evolution' under the supervision of Conrad Hal Waddington. He later taught at Sussex University before becoming a professor at the Open University until his retirement in 1992. He was a major figure in the early development of mathematical biology and attended significant meetings on the subject. He also taught at Schumacher College and held research positions at MIT and the Santa Fe Institute. Brian Goodwin died in 2009 after a fall from his bicycle.