A little bit of history

The Center for Nonlinear Science has been founded by Dr. Bruce West in 1994 for the purpose of promoting the Science of Complexity and to contribute to the progress in this field. We consider complex all the systems where the reduction of the global properties to the specific nature of the elementary constituents is impossible, due to spontaneous transition to cooperative behavior. The research work of the Center is interdisciplinary and it involves the following disciplines: physics (mainly condensed matter), meteorology, sociology, biology (DNA sequences), geology, neurophysiology and psychology. An example of significant applications is given by the analysis of heart beating and by the construction of methods to evaluate mortality risk after a heart congestive failure. The most challenging complex system studied by the Center is the human brain.