In hmolscience, Marlan Blissett (1938-1989), born Harold Marlan Blissett (Ѻ) , was an American political scientist noted, in human thermodynamics, for 1972 discussions on thermodynamics, sociology, and politics.
Overview
In 1972, Blissett, in his Politics in Science, in his chapter “Big Science and the Laws of Social Thermodynamics”, speculated on what he referred to as the "laws of social thermodynamics", covering topics in both sociological thermodynamics and political thermodynamics. The following is an example excerpt from the book: [1]
“All areas of social and political space must be constantly affirmed against the entropy of an ‘environment’ – whether, for example, the activity involves the clarification of points between a central government and a state in a federal system.”
In the book, Blissett cites American mathematical biophysicist Alvin Weinberg’s 1967 classical thermodynamics views and Leo Szilard’s 1929 paper on entropy and information. [2]
Background
In 1960, Blissett completed BA at Texas Technological University, then his MA in 1963 at the University of California, Berkeley, in political philosophy, then his PhD in 1969 in government at the University of Texas. In 1968, Blissett was an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska. [3] Blissett's PhD dissertation may have been the 1969 “The Politics of Professionalized Science.” [4] In the 1970s and 1980s, Blissett seems to have been associated with the University of Texas at Austin, and their Center for Energy Studies, Energy Research. Blissett collaborated with American ecologist Howard Odum in 1987, on the topic of emergy analysis.
References
1. Blissett, Marlan. (1972). Politics in Science (section: Big Science and the Laws of Social Thermodynamics, pg. 25-35; term: entropy, pgs. 26, 53, 66, etc.). Little, Brown and Co.
2. (a) Szilárd, Leó. (1929). “On the Decrease in Entropy in a Thermodynamic System by the Intervention of Intelligent Beings”, Zeitschrift fur Physik, 53, 840-56.
(b) Weinberg, Alvin M. (1967). Reflections on Big Science. MIT Press.
3. Anon. (1969). Political Science (Marlan Blissett, pg. 56). American Political Science Association.
4. Blissett, Marlan. (1969). The Politics of Professionalized Science. University of Texas at Auston.
External links
● Marlan Blissett – OpenLibrary.org.
● Blissett, Marlan (WorldCat Identities) – WorldCat.org.
