Arthur Taylor Winfree was a theoretical biologist at the University of Arizona

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

. He was born in St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg, Florida

St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

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Winfree was noted for his work on the mathematical model

Mathematical model

A mathematical model is a description of a system using mathematical concepts and language. The process of developing a mathematical model is termed mathematical modeling. Mathematical models are used not only in the natural sciences and engineering disciplines A mathematical model is a...

ing of biological phenomena: from cardiac arrhythmia and circadian rhythm

Circadian rhythm

A circadian rhythm, popularly referred to as body clock, is an endogenously driven , roughly 24-hour cycle in biochemical, physiological, or behavioural processes. Circadian rhythms have been widely observed in plants, animals, fungi and cyanobacteria...

s to the self-organization

Self-organization

Self-organization is the process where a structure or pattern appears in a system without a central authority or external element imposing it through planning...

 of slime mold colonies and the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction

Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction

A Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, or BZ reaction, is one of a class of reactions that serve as a classical example of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, resulting in the establishment of a nonlinear chemical oscillator. The only common element in these oscillating systems is the inclusion of bromine...

. Winfree was a MacArthur Fellow from 1984 to 1989 and shared the 2000 Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics

Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics

The Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics is a $5000 prize awarded every three years to for an outstanding contribution to "applied mathematics in the highest and broadest sense." It was endowed in 1967 in honor of Norbert Wiener by MIT's mathematics department and is provided jointly by the...

 with Alexandre Chorin

Alexandre Chorin

Alexandre J. Chorin is a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley who works in applied mathematics. He is known for his contributions to the field of Computational fluid dynamics....

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He was the father of Erik Winfree

Erik Winfree

Erik Winfree is an American computer scientist, bioengineer, and associate professor at California Institute of Technology. He is a leading researcher into DNA computing and DNA nanotechnology....

, another MacArthur Fellow and currently a professor at the California Institute of Technology

California Institute of Technology

The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...

, and Rachael Winfree, currently an Assistant Professor
in the Department of Entomology at Rutgers University

Rutgers University

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...

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Brief curriculum vitae

1965 Bachelor of Engineering Physics, Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

1970 Ph.D., Biology, Princeton University

1969-1972 Assistant Professor, University of Chicago

1972-1979 Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Purdue University

1979-1986 Professor of Biological Sciences, Purdue University

1986-2002 Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona

1989-2002 Regents Professor, University of Arizona

Awards

Year	Award
1961	Westinghouse Science Talent Search Finalist
1982	John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship
1984	John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Prize
1989	The Einthoven Award (Netherlands Royal Academy of Science, InterUniversity Cardiology Institute, and Einthoven Foundation)
2000	AMS-SIAM Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics (shared with A. Chorin)
2001	Aisenstadt Chair Lecturer (Centre de Recherche Mathématiques, Université de Montréal)