Time magazine 'influential person' visits MU

Geoffrey West, theoretical physicist for the Santa Fe Institute was a 2006 Time Magazine 'most influential person.'

By Andrew Denney

Published April 30, 2008

As a theoretical physicist, Santa Fe Institute President Geoffrey West, who presented a lecture on Friday at the Life Sciences Center, works in a field that ordinarily utilizes advanced technology.

But at the lecture, West opted for the time-honored overhead projector with transparent slides over the more technologically advanced PowerPoint to present his material.

"The reason I use this contraption is my statement," West said, slapping the projector.

West, who said it took him seven years to figure out his cell phone, said he made the choice deliberately to illustrate the rapid changes in technology in recent years, which is one emphasis of his study.

"We all have the problem that we need to innovate faster and faster," West said. "This is the phenomenon we are in."

West, recognized in 2006 as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People, presented his lecture - entitled Size Matters: The Complexity, Simplicity and Unity of Living Systems from Cells to Cities - as part of an ongoing lecture series held by a group of MU professors in memory of MU researcher Samuel Brody. West said Brody's work was influential to his own.

Brody, who began working for MU in 1920 as a professor of dairy husbandry, studied several properties of domestic animals, such as aging, growth and metabolism. He worked for the university until his death in 1956. He died sitting at his desk in his office, still at work.

Brody sought out mathematically deducible patterns in nature, which West said is the "most complex system" because of a high number of variables.

In the course of his research, Brody found patterns in the correlation between an animal's growth rate and size and its metabolic rate. West said Brody's findings in this area helped from the basis of his own research.

Brody Memorial Lectureship Committee Chairman Donald Spiers said the committee considered West as a presenter because of the similarities between his work and Brody's.

"We realized this was a natural connection, because Brody was doing things then that Dr. West and his group are doing today," Spiers said.

West has researched patterns in elements of large, man-made social institutions such as large cities and corporations. Systems such as the allocation of public goods in cities and the growth of technology can be expressed mathematically, West said.

His research also deals with problems facing cities, such as environmental issues and disease, which West said are problems brought about by the existence of cities, and are becoming increasing problems for the planet because urban populations are swelling worldwide. He said, paradoxically, the solution to these problems - innovation and availability of resources - is also brought on by the development of cities, which West said are "bloody well growing super-exponentially."

"We'd better understand cities if we're gong to we're going to solve this problem," West said. "We need to be a generation of people that think in broader terms."

Monsanto Auditorium's seats were nearly full with persons in attendance to hear West's lecture.

MU senior Benji Bockting said while he attended the lecture to gain extra credit for a class, he was glad he went. He said he found West's discussion of the various complexities facing different cities "fascinating."

"I've always thought that all cities were the same," Bockting said.

MU physics professor Wouter Montfrooij said he found West's topic interesting and said liked his style of speaking, but he also said he would have liked to have seen more questions asked from the audience.