Anatol Rapoport

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Anatol Rapoport</div>

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<p><b>Anatol Rapoport</b> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language" title="Russian language">Russian</a>: Анато́лий Бори́сович Рапопо́рт, born May 22, 1911 – January 20, 2007) was a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia" title="Russia">Russian</a>-born <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">American</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jew" title="Jew" class="mw-redirect">Jewish</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_psychology" title="Mathematical psychology">mathematical psychologist</a>. He contributed to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_systems_theory" title="General systems theory" class="mw-redirect">general systems theory</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_biology" title="Mathematical biology" class="mw-redirect">mathematical biology</a> and to the mathematical modeling of social interaction and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stochastic" title="Stochastic">stochastic</a> models of contagion.</p>

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<h2>Contents</h2>

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<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatol_Rapoport#Biography">1 Biography</a></li>

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<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatol_Rapoport#Game_theory">2.1 Game theory</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatol_Rapoport#Social_network_analysis">2.2 Social network analysis</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatol_Rapoport#Conflict_and_peace_studies">2.3 Conflict and peace studies</a></li>

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<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatol_Rapoport#Publications">3 Publications</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatol_Rapoport#References">4 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatol_Rapoport#External_links">5 External links</a></li>

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<h2>Biography</h2>

<p>Rapoport was born in Lozоvaya, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkov_Governorate" title="Kharkov Governorate">Kharkov Governorate</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Russia" title="Imperial Russia" class="mw-redirect">Russia</a> (in today's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkiv_Oblast" title="Kharkiv Oblast">Kharkiv Oblast</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine" title="Ukraine">Ukraine</a>). In 1922, he came to the United States, and in 1928 he became a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalized_citizen" title="Naturalized citizen" class="mw-redirect">naturalized citizen</a>. He started studying music in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago" title="Chicago">Chicago</a> and continued with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano" title="Piano">piano</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conducting" title="Conducting">conducting</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_composition" title="Musical composition">composition</a> at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna" title="Vienna">Vienna</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Music_and_Performing_Arts,_Vienna" title="University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna">Hochschule für Musik</a> where he studied from 1929 to 1934. However, due to the rise of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism" title="Nazism">Nazism</a>, he found it impossible to make a career as a pianist.<sup id="cite_ref-0" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatol_Rapoport#cite_note-0">[1]</a></sup>

He shifted his career into <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics" title="Mathematics">mathematics</a>, getting a Ph.D. degree in mathematics under <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Schilling" title="Otto Schilling">Otto Schilling</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Adrian_Albert" title="Abraham Adrian Albert">Abraham Adrian Albert</a> at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Chicago" title="University of Chicago">University of Chicago</a> in 1941 on the thesis <i>Construction of Non-Abelian Fields with Prescribed Arithmetic</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatol_Rapoport#cite_note-1">[2]</a></sup> According to the <i>Toronto Globe and Mail</i>, he was a member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Communist_Party" title="American Communist Party" class="mw-redirect">American Communist Party</a> for three years, but quit before enlisting in the U.S. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Air_Corps" title="United States Army Air Corps">Army Air Corps</a> in 1941, serving in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska" title="Alaska">Alaska</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" title="India">India</a> during <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II" title="World War II">World War II</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Ron_Csillag_2007_2-0" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatol_Rapoport#cite_note-Ron_Csillag_2007-2">[3]</a></sup>

After the war, he joined the Committee on Mathematical Biology at the University of Chicago (1947–1954), publishing his first book, <i>Science and the Goals of Man,</i> co-authored with semanticist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.I.Hayakawa" title="S. I. Hayakawa">S. I. Hayakawa</a> in 1950. He also received a one-year fellowship at the prestigious <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Advanced_Study_in_the_Behavioral_Sciences" title="Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences">Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford" title="Stanford" class="mw-redirect">Stanford</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California" title="California">California</a>).

From 1955 to 1970 Rapoport was Professor of Mathematical Biology and Senior Research Mathematician at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Michigan" title="University of Michigan">University of Michigan</a>, as well as founding member, in 1955, of the Mental Health Research Institute (MHRI) at the University of Michigan. In 1970 Rapoport moved to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto" title="Toronto">Toronto</a> to avoid the war-making ways of the Vietnam-era <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">United States</a>. He was appointed professor of mathematics and psychology at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Toronto" title="University of Toronto">University of Toronto</a>, 1970-1979. He lived in bucolic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wychwood_Park" title="Wychwood Park">Wychwood Park</a> overlooking downtown Toronto, a neighbour of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan" title="Marshall McLuhan">Marshall McLuhan</a>. On his retirement from the University of Toronto, he became director of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Advanced_Studies_%28Vienna%29" title="Institute of Advanced Studies (Vienna)">Institute of Advanced Studies (Vienna)</a> until 1983.

In 1954, Anatol Rapoport cofounded the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_General_Systems_Research" title="Society for General Systems Research">Society for General Systems Research</a>, along with the researchers <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy" title="Ludwig von Bertalanffy">Ludwig von Bertalanffy</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Gerard" title="Ralph Gerard" class="mw-redirect">Ralph Gerard</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Boulding" title="Kenneth Boulding" class="mw-redirect">Kenneth Boulding</a>. He became president of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_General_Systems_Research" title="Society for General Systems Research">Society for General Systems Research</a> in 1965.

Anatol Rapoport died of pneumonia in Toronto. He is survived by his wife Gwen, daughter Anya, and sons Alexander and Anthony.</p>

<p>Rapoport contributed to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_systems_theory" title="General systems theory" class="mw-redirect">general systems theory</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_biology" title="Mathematical biology" class="mw-redirect">mathematical biology</a> and to the mathematical modeling of social interaction and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stochastic" title="Stochastic">stochastic</a> models of contagion. He combined his mathematical expertise with psychological insights into the study of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory" title="Game theory">game theory</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networks" title="Social networks" class="mw-redirect">social networks</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantics" title="Semantics">semantics</a>.

Rapoport extended these understandings into studies of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological" title="Psychological" class="mw-redirect">psychological</a> conflict, dealing with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon" title="Nuclear weapon">nuclear</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_control" title="Arms control">disarmament</a> and international <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics" title="Politics">politics</a>. His autobiography, <i>Certainties and Doubts: A Philosophy of Life</i>, was published in 2001.</p>

<h3>Game theory</h3>

<p>Rapoport had a versatile mind, working in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics" title="Mathematics">mathematics</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology" title="Psychology">psychology</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology" title="Biology">biology</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory" title="Game theory">game theory</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network" title="Social network">social network</a> analysis, and peace and conflict studies. For example, he pioneered in the modeling of parasitism and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiosis" title="Symbiosis">symbiosis</a>, researching <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics" title="Cybernetics">cybernetic theory</a>. This went on to give a conceptual basis for his lifelong work in conflict and cooperation.

Among many other well-known books on fights, games, violence and peace, Rapoport was the author of over 300 articles and of Two-Person Game Theory (1966) and N-Person Game Theory (2001). He analyzed contests in which there are more than two sets of conflicting interests, such as war, diplomacy, poker or bargaining. His work led him to peace research (see below), including books on <i>The Origins of Violence' (1989) and 'Peace, An Idea Whose Time Has Come</i> (1993), both written at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Toronto" title="University of Toronto">University of Toronto</a>.

He won a computer tournament in the 1980s, based on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Axelrod" title="Robert Axelrod">Robert Axelrod</a>'s <i>The Evolution of Cooperation</i>. This sought to understand how cooperation could emerge through evolution. The contenders had to present pieces of software that would play iterated games of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma" title="Prisoner's dilemma">prisoner's dilemma</a> against each other. Rapoport's entry, <i>Tit-For-Tat</i> has only four lines of code. The program opens by cooperating with its opponent. It then plays exactly as the other side played in the previous game. If the other side defected in the previous game, the program also defects; but only for one game. If the other side cooperates, the program continues to cooperate. According to <i>Peace Magazine</i> author/editor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metta_Spencer" title="Metta Spencer">Metta Spencer</a>, the program "punished the other player for selfish behaviour and rewarded her for cooperative behaviour—but the punishment lasted only as long as the selfish behaviour lasted. This proved to be an exceptionally effective sanction, quickly showing the other side the advantages of cooperating. It also set moral philosophers to proposing this as a workable principle to use in real life interactions."

His children report that he was a strong chess player but a bad poker player because he non-verbally revealed the strength of his hands.<sup id="cite_ref-Ron_Csillag_2007_2-1" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatol_Rapoport#cite_note-Ron_Csillag_2007-2">[3]</a></sup></p>

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Anatol Rapoport

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