Ilya Prigogine (January 25, 1917 - May 28, 2003) was born in Moscow, Russia. He studied chemistry at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Brussels, Belgium. He was awarded the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Prigogine is known best for his work on dissipative structures. His main area of work was systems dynamics (especially in systems far from equilibrium) and the understanding of the role of time in physics and biology. His work is seen by many as a bridge between natural science, the studying of biological systems and social science, describing the natural laws allowing self-organisation under the rule of thermodynamics.
Since 1959, Prigogine was the director of the International Solvay Institute in Brussels, Belgium. He was Regental Professor and Ashbel Smith Professor of Physics and Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas. There he founded in 1967 the Center for Statistical Mechanics, later renamed the Ilya Prigogine Center for Studies in Statistical Mechanics and Complex Systems.
Prigogine was a member of countless scientific organizations and he received awards, prizes and more than 50 honorary degrees. In 1989, he was awarded the title of Viscount by the King of Belgium.
He was the author of numerous books and scientific articles.
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