Peter Corning, Author and Director, Institute for the Study of Complex Systems

Synergy and Systems Literacy

Peter Corning graduated from Brown University, served as a naval aviator, was then a science reporter for Newsweek magazine, earned a Ph.D. at New York University, did a post-doc at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics (University of Colorado), taught for many years in the Human Biology Program and Institute of Political Studies at Stanford University and directed a research institute in complexity science. 

He has also published over 200 scientific papers and seven books, including The Synergism Hypothesis (McGraw Hill, 1983), The Fair Society: The Science of Human Nature and the Pursuit of Social Justice (University of Chicago Press, 2011) and Synergistic Selection: How Cooperation Has Shaped Evolution and the Rise of Humankind (World Scientific, 2018). 

In recent years, he and his wife, Susan, also developed and operated a diversified, four-season organic market farm on San Juan Island, WA. 

They have two daughters a son, and two grandchildren (so far), all living and working in Seattle.          

Publications can be seen at: http:/complexsystems.org