George Oster


George Frederick Oster NAS was an American mathematical biologist, and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at University of California, Berkeley. He made seminal contributions to several varied fields including chaos theory, population dynamics, membrane dynamics and molecular motors. He was a 1985 MacArthur Fellow.

Early career

He graduated from Columbia University, with a Ph.D., in Nuclear Engineering in 1967. He was appointed as an assistant professor in at UC Berkeley in 1970. In the early 1970s Oster collaborated with Aharon Katzir-Katchalsky on statistical mechanics. He also collaborated with Alan Perelson and Aharon Katzir-Katchalsky on Network Thermodynamics: the application of Bond Graphs to the thermodynamic modelling of biophysical systems.
Oster's work with E. O. Wilson on populations dynamics of social animals, particularly ants, is considered pioneering work in evolution in social insects. Oster was one of the first theoretical biologists to understand that a complex interplay between mechanical and chemical forces was at the root of most biological phenomena.

Later career

He was elected to the United States [National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences] in 2004. Oster was a List of [Guggenheim Fellowships awarded in 1975|Guggenheim Fellow], and a member of the science board of the Santa Fe Institute.

Awards