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To discuss the concept of cybernetics, and to point out its complexities.

Cybernetics can be seen as a scientific concept of harnessing complexity as a feedback phenomenon and a project aimed at establishing a new control science and adaptive technology based on the formalization of complexity. Today, we still do not have adaptive or complex computers.

Cybernetics has failed both as a concept and a project, and is becoming a case for historians. But before it is classified as just a short scientific episode between the atomic bomb and cyberwar, a closer look will show that it was not only a military sponsored project driven by the cold war of the 1950s but also a rebellious movement inspired by the visions of the 1960s. Heinz von Foerster more than anyone else represented this human face of cybernetics.

Considers some of the thought‐provoking ideas of Heinz von Foerster in the history of cybernetics.

Presents an “in memoriam” tribute to Heinz von Foerster.

Outlines his work.

Introduces his inspiring contributions in the applied sciences and to the more general researches on the theoretical and practical implications of the cybernetic epistemology.

Gives insights to the importance of the work of von Foerster.

A simple modification of J2‐flow theory is made which enables it to approximately represent the reduced stiffness and increased plastic flow of corner‐theory response to non‐proportional loading. The key idea involves making the plastic modulus a function of the loading direction. A concise radial‐return type numerical algorithm is presented for the constitutive integration.

A boundary element method has been developed to calculate the added mass matrix of fluid coupled structures in the case when the fluid is assumed to be compressible and inviscid. The potential flow is represented by a double layer density with linear interpolation functions. A linear set of equations for the fluid motion is obtained by Galerkin's procedure. The added mass matrix is not symmetric but a symmetrization procedure is established. The method has been implemented into a computer code for two‐dimensional geometries, whose results are presented here. A comparison with the analytical results already shows excellent agreement for coarse discretizations.

This study aims to explore an exemplar of the design and application of a systemic framework for higher education. The field of application is in the social sciences and the perspective long-term, covering three generations of faculty and many generations of students.

This study is exploratory. It contains a conceptual component and an empirical component with a long-term case study from a European university.

A cybersystemic approach to higher education has been shown, at the focal university, to be a powerful amplifier of individual and institutional capabilities, and it still has great potential. The crucial prerequisite is that the approach is virtuously designed and implemented.

A case study ranging over 50 years is presented. The respective university has been a role model for other educational institutions for many years. Its influence in the German-speaking countries, and more recently also internationally, has become significant.