Origin of the Emergy Society

Origin of the Emergy Society

The Emergy Society was authorized by H.T. Odum in August 2002, shortly before his death on September 11, 2002, in response to a question asked by Dan Campbell. Campbell asked him, “Should we form a society to carry on this work after you are gone?” At first he was reluctant to authorize such a society, saying that there were enough scientific societies already and that the world really did not need another one. Campbell mentioned the importance of the ideas of emergy and transformity and on further thought; he said that if the new society were to be closely focused on these new ideas then it might be alright.

The International Society for the Advancement of Emergy Research, a.k.a., the Emergy Society has been structured to closely follow his instructions to organize a Society dedicated to advance the theory and applications related to the linked concepts of emergy and transformity, which arise from the operation of the 4th law of thermodynamics, i.e., the maximum empower principle (Lotka 1922 a, b; Odum 1996).

The idea of forming a new society was brought forward at the 3rd Emergy Research Conference, Emergy Synthesis 3, held in 2004 at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. At this conference Campbell brought the idea of forming a Society before the body of the assembled conference participants and a committee was empowered to study the feasibility of forming a society. This committee reported to the delegates assembled for the 4th Emergy Research Conference held at the University of Florida in January 2006 that the formation of such a society was feasible. A vote of the delegates authorized the formation of the Emergy Society by the time of the next conference, Emergy Synthesis 5, which at that time was to be held in January of 2008 in Gainesville, FL. During 2007, a group of founding members read and approved by-laws for the Society and an application for incorporation as a nonprofit corporation was submitted to the State of Rhode Island by Dan Campbell. Four trustees signed the application for incorporation and Campbell carried out the work necessary to obtain provisional tax-exempt status with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The Emergy Society became incorporated in Rhode Island on July 28, 2007 and it received tax-exempt status from the Federal government on December 17, 2007. The official name of the Emergy Society is the International Society for the Advancement of Emergy Research (ISAER), which is a variation of a name first suggested by Ben Fusaro, a mathematician and longtime colleague of H.T. Odum.

The Emergy Society became incorporated in Rhode Island on July 28, 2007 and it received tax-exempt status from the Federal government on December 17, 2007. The official name of the Emergy Society is the International Society for the Advancement of Emergy Research (ISAER), which is a variation of the name first suggested by Ben Fusaro. You can explore our website to learn more about emergy, H.T. Odum, and our organization...