Out of a creative jumble of ideas in the middle of last Century: Wiener, interdisciplinarity, and all that

Abstract

Is Biophysics an interdisciplinary science? In order to answer this rhetorical question, it can be useful to look back at history of disciplines, as well as that of the scientific institutions helping their development. In this contribution some aspects of the unusual hodgepodge of concepts involving Biophysics, the legacy of Cybernetics, cognitive science and the central figure of Norbert Wiener are presented and discussed.

Keywords: Biophysics; Cybernetics; Interdisciplinarity.