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Fritjof Capra (born February 1, 1939) is an Austrian-born American physicist, systems theorist, and author of the international bestsellers, such as The Tao of Physics (1975) and The Turning Point (1982).(1)

Life and work

Born in Vienna, Austria, Capra earned a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Vienna in 1966. He has done research on particle physics and systems theory, and has written popular books on the implications of science, notably The Tao of Physics, subtitled An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism. The Tao of Physics makes an assertion that physics and metaphysics are both inexorably leading to the same knowledge. He is fluent in German, English, French, and Italian. After touring Germany in the early 1980s, Capra co-wrote a book on Green Politics with ecofeminist author Charlene Spretnak called Green Politics, in 1984.Capra contributed to the screenplay for the 1990 movie Mindwalk, starring Liv Ullman, Sam Waterston, and John Heard, which was loosely based on his book, The Turning Point.In 1991 Capra coauthored Belonging to the Universe with David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk and a man who has been called a contemporary Thomas Merton. Using Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions as a stepping stone, their book explores the parallels between new paradigm thinking in science and religion that together offer what the authors consider remarkably compatible view of the universe. Capra pushes for western society to abandon conventional linear thought and the mechanistic views of Descartes. Critiquing the reductionistic Cartesian view that everything can be studied in parts to understand the whole, Capra encourages his readers to take a holistic approach. In The Web of Life, Capra focuses on the systemic information generated by the relationships among all the parts as a significant additional factor in the character of the whole, emphasizing the web-like structure of all systems and thus the interconnectedness of all parts.Capra is purportedly setting the grounds for change in many new theories, one of which is the living systems theory, a theoretical framework for ecology. This theory is only now fully emerging but it has its roots in several scientific fields that were developed during the first half of the twentieth century — organismic biology, gestalt psychology, ecology, general systems theory, and cybernetics.Fritjof Capra is a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy located in Berkeley, California, which promotes ecology and systems thinking in primary and secondary education.

Bibliography

Capra has written several books and articles. A selection of his books:

• 1975, The Tao of Physics.
• 1982, (The Turning Point (Book)|The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Rising Culture)
• 1984, Green Politics, with Charlene Spretnak.
• 1988, Uncommon Wisdom
• 1991, Belonging to the Universe: Explorations on the Frontiers of Science and Spirituality, coauthored with David Steindl-Rast and Thomas Matus.
• 1997, The Web of Life
• 2002, The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living
• 2007, The Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance

See also

• The da Vinci Medallion
• Deep Ecology
• Hindu Idealism
• Rupert Sheldrake

References

• Resume at Fritjof Capra web site.

1. Fritjof Capra homepage. retrieved July 14, 2009.

External links

• His homepage
• The Turning Point
• Home on the web for the Center for Ecoliteracy
• Interview with Fritjof Capra by Francis Pisani

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