Arthur S. Iberall (June 12, 1918 – December 8, 2002) was an American physicist/hydrodynamicist and engineer who pioneered homeokinetics, the physics of complex, self-organizing systems. He was the originator of the concept of lines of non-extension on the human body which was used to create workable space suits.
Biography Arthur S. Iberall was born in New York City. His mother, Anna Katz, immigrated to the United States from Kaunas, Lithuania. His father, Benjamin Iberall, immigrated from Warsaw, Poland. He had one sibling, psychologist Rosalind Rothman. He married Helene Rubenstein (1913-2016) in 1940, and they had four daughters, Eleanora I. Robbins, Penni I. Rubin, Thea Iberall, and Valerie I. O'Connor.
Iberall studied at City College of New York, where he received a BS in physics in 1940 and then continued by studying mechanical engineering. From 1942-1945, he worked on an MS under George Gamow and Edward Teller at George Washington University.
From 1941 to 1953, Iberall worked at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, DC. In 1953, he left government work and worked in the private sector at ARO (1954) and the Rand Development Corporation (1954-1964). In 1964, he started General Technical Services with Samuel Z. Cardon in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania. In 1976, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from Ohio State University in recognition of his achievements in interdisciplinary scientific research. At the invitation of F. Eugene Yates, Iberall joined the UCLA Crump Institute for Medical Engineering. Retrieved November 24, 2016 From 1981 to 1985, Iberall was a Crump Visiting Scholar where he did research and taught. In 1991, he retired and started publishing with Cri-de-Coeur Press. Retrieved November 24, 2016
Iberall died in 2002 from congestive heart failure.
Work Under the leadership of William G. Brombacher at the National Bureau of Standards, Iberall worked on instrument theory, safety equipment, and measurement problems such as the physics of the atmosphere. At that time, the US Navy and US Air Force were creating aircraft that could travel further and further into the upper atmosphere. Pilots were being affected at the higher altitudes, which led to funding of studies of human physiology in order to understand how the body responds to high G forces and reduced oxygen. He also worked on the development of a new breathing apparatus that led to undersea scuba innovations. Retrieved November 24, 2016
At the Rand Development Corporation, Retrieved November 24, 2016 Iberall worked on engineering and physics problems. Along with chemist Samuel Z. Cardon, he solved technical problems for businesses such as Cleveland Pneumatic Tool Co.Iberall, A.S. and D.E. Platt. Bumper stop design. Cleveland Pneumatic Tool Co., 1955. Westinghouse,Iberall, A.S. Flat plate burner design. Westinghouse Electric, Two Reports, 1955. Sherwin-Williams,Iberall, A.S. Measurement of paint viscosity in the can. Sherwin-Williams, 1956.Iberall, A.S. Color matching of paints. Sherwin-Williams, 1956 Illinois Tool Works,Iberall, A.S. and R. Hitchcock, Jr. Study of some fundamental considerations in the design of screw fasteners and locking devices. Illinois Tool Works, 1956. Ohio Brass Co.,Iberall, A.S. Bumper Stop Theory. Ohio Brass Co., 1958 and Industrial Fasteners Institute.Iberall, A.S. Fundamental engineering considerations in the application of screw fasteners, 2 Reports to Industrial Fasteners Inst., Cleveland, 1961 (issued as a national handbook by the Institute). They also worked on technical issues such as the analysis of waters of the US for the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare,Iberall, A.S. and S.Z. Cardon. Study of research needs in protecting the quality of waters in the USA. Report to HEW, Contract SAPH 76238, 1960.Iberall, A.S., S.Z. Cardon, and H. Schneider. A study of the physical description of the hydrology of a large land mass pertinent to water supply and pollution control. 4 Reports to HEW, Contract SAPH 78640, 1961-62. engineering for military applications for the US ArmyIberall, A.S. and S.Z. Cardon. To develop an applied science of man-systems. Predictions USA--1970-2050. Final Report to US Army Research Inst., April 1975.Iberall, A.S. A study of the engineering aspects of life sciences for military needs. 4 Reports to US Army, Contract DA-49-183-MD-2152, 1961. and high altitude research and full pressure altitude suits for the USAF.Iberall, A.S. Development of a full pressure altitude suit. Report to USAF, WADC TR 58-236, 1957.
At General Technical Services, Iberall and Cardon solved problems such as physiological responses of mammals to high pressureIberall, A.S., M. Ehrenberg and S.Z. Cardon. General-dynamics of the physical-chemical systems in mammals. Contractors Report to NASA, NASW-1066, Aug. 1966.Iberall, A.S. and S.Z. Cardon. Analysis of the dynamic systems response of some internal human systems. Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information; Reports to NASA: CR-129, Oct. 1964; CR-141, Jan. 1965; CR-219, May 1965; Interim Report, Dec. 1965. and flow in arteries for NASA, water pollution for the Public Health Service.Iberall, A.S. and S.Z. Cardon. A study to develop improved water pollution measurement techniques. 3 Reports to Public Health Services, Contract PH-86-62-106,1962. For US Army commands, they did research on oscillators, clothing design,Iberall, A.S., S.Z. Cardon and J. Ellis. Studies of principles of clothing design to minimize interference with body motion. 3 Reports to Natick Labs., US Army Contract DA-19-129-AMC-45(R), 1963-64. technical forecasting, planning, systems science applications, cybernetics and computer applications, autonomous systems, and survival of complex systems. For the Office of Naval Research, they worked on inertial guidance systems,Iberall, A.S. A new class of inertial guidance systems. Report to Office of Naval Research (ONR), Contract NONR 3778(00), 1962-63, 1965-66, 1968-69. hydrodynamics equations,Iberall, A.S. Contributions toward solution of the equations of hydrodynamics. Part A. The continuum limitations of fluid dynamics. Report to ONR, 1963.Iberall, A.S. Contributions toward solution of the equations of hydrodynamics. Part B. Primitive solutions for the fluctuating components of turbulent flow between parallel plates. Report to ONR, 1965. fluid dynamics. Other work included dosage radiation factors for the Atomic Energy Commission, systems science applications for the United States Department of Transportation,Iberall, A.S. and S.Z. Cardon. Physical foundations for socio-economic modeling for transportation planning, parts I and II. Final Report, Contract DOT-TSC-1157, Dec. 1976.Iberall, A.S. and S.Z. Cardon. The carrying competence of vehicles. Final Report to Dept. of Transportation, Contract DOT-TSC-1169, Jan. 1977.Iberall, A.S. and S.Z. Cardon. Application of physical science to transportation research and policy analysis. Task I: Review of Analysis of Current Policies and Issues. Report to Dept. of Transportation, 1977 complex systems interactions for the National Institute of Aging, and mobile pressure suits for the US Air Force.
At the UCLA Crump Institute, Iberall joined the Complex Systems Group which attracted professors from many universities and federal agencies to learn how to incorporate systems science into diverse fields. He also taught courses on the thermodynamics of living systems for chemical engineering students, which was sponsored by the Marshak Colloquium of UCLA. Retrieved November 24, 2016
Contributions
Space suits and lines of non-extension
In 1947, Iberall began work at NBS on pressure suits for the US Air Force and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. They recognized that astronauts had to be protected from expansive forces. Iberall developed one of the first space suits to solve this problem; his first approximation was to use netting (linknet) to help the suit maintain form. The ultimate solution came from an analysis of the lines of non-extension (LONE),Iberall, A.S., "The experimental design of a mobile pressure suit", Journal of Basic Engineering, Transactions of the ASME, June 1970, p. 251-264 i.e. the parts of the body that did not move much so the suit did not need special treatment there. Astronaut Scott Crossfield flew the X-15 in this suit, as did astronauts on Gemini missions between 1962 and 1964. The federal government required that business interests take over further development and production for commercial applications, so the David Clark Company won the contract for space suit design and eventually took design in another direction. Years later, Dava Newman at Massachusetts Institute of Technology has her students following up on LONE as a design for the next generation of space suits.
The design of a space suit needed a deep understanding of physiology. As Iberall was studying this problem, his oldest daughter got polio and he went searching for the most innovative ideas to save the functioning of her afflicted leg. He found Rene Cailliet, a newly minted MD at the Kabat-Kaiser Institute Retrieved November 24, 2016 who taught Iberall physiology. Later, as a professor of medicine at UCLA, Cailliet went on to become the author of the widely known series of textbooks on musculoskeletal medicine, and some of his earliest ideas thereby became incorporated into space suit design. Retrieved November 24, 2016
Iberall also learned physiology from his mentor, neurophysiologist and cybernetician Warren S. McCulloch. As they worked on biophysical research for the NASA exobiology program analyzing the dynamics of mammalian physiological processes, initial ideas that would become homeokinetics began to emerge. In 1967, they performed a complete systems analysis of the daily activities that constitute human behavior.Iberall, A.S. and W.S. McCulloch. "The organizing principle of complex living systems." J. Basic Engr., ASME 290-294, 1969.
Homeokinetics—the physics of complex systems
Homeokinetics is the study of complex systems—universes, galaxies, social systems, people, or even systems that seem as simple as gases.Iberall, A.S., Homeokinetics: The Basics. Strong Voices Publishing, 2016. The entire universe is modelled as atomistic-like units bound in interactive ensembles that form systems, level by level in a nested hierarchy.Soodak H. and A.S. Iberall, "Homeokinetics: A physical science for complex systems", Science 201:579, 1978. Homeokinetics treats all complex systems on an equal footing, both animate and inanimate, providing them with a common viewpoint. The complexity in studying how they work is reduced by the emergence of common languages for all complex systems.
Life, birth, and death of complex systems are bound in hierarchical processes that have both side-side and in-out components. In common with the simpler counterparts, complex systems exhibit rest phases, smooth or creeping flows, turbulence, and chaotic phases; they alternate in storminess and placidity, as well as in their intermittence and changeability.