Gerard Jagers
Gerard Jagers op Akkerhuis works as a scientist at Wageningen University and Research center. His research ranges from entomology (insects), and eco(toxico)logy to functional biodiversity, evolution and system science.
In 1993 he finished a PhD in ecotoxicology at Wageningen Agricultural University ("Physical conditions affecting pyrethroid toxicity in arthropods").
Between 1996 and 1999 he worked as a guest scientist at the National Environmental Research Institute in Denmark.
In 2010, his passion for system theory led to a second PhD at the Radboud University Nijmegen ("The operator hierarchy, a chain of closures linking matter, life and artificial intelligence"). Using closure as a simple rule for analyzing hierarchy, the operator hierarchy offers a general framework for particle evolution, from quarks, via hadrons, atoms. molecules, prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and multicellular organisms to neural network organisms.
The operator hierarchy allows theoretical progress on a number of fields, including: simple definitions of life, the organism and death, a general theory for evolution (including the evolution of particles and organisms), the prediction of future operators and a periodic table for periodic tables. Most importantly, it offers an elegant way of analyzing the organization of nature.