Stefan Thurner is a professor of the science of complex systems at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria; co-founder and president of the Complexity Science Hub Vienna; and external professor at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico, US. He is co-leading the project Mapping the Evolution of AI: A Data-Driven Exploration of Epistemic Diversity and Future Frontiers.
An Austrian physicist and economist, Thurner earned a PhD in theoretical physics from TU Wien and a PhD in economics from the University of Vienna. He held postdoctoral positions at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, and Boston University, US, and obtained his habilitation in theoretical physics. He has been a professor of the science of complex systems at the Medical University of Vienna since 2009 and is an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. Thurner is a co-founder and has been president of the Complexity Science Hub Vienna since 2015.
Research Focus
Thurner started his career with contributions to theoretical particle physics and gradually shifted his focus to complex systems understanding. He has published more than 300 scientific articles on a range of topics, including: fundamental physics (topological excitations in quantum field theories, statistics and entropy of complex systems), applied mathematics (wavelet statistics, fractal harmonic analysis, anomalous diffusion), network theory, evolutionary systems, life sciences (network medicine, gene regulatory networks, bioinformatics, heartbeat dynamics, cell motility), economics and finance (supply chain dynamics, price formation, regulation, systemic risk), and the social sciences (opinion formation, bureaucratic inefficiency, collective human behavior, efficiency of healthcare systems).
His work has been covered extensively in more than 1,000 newspaper, radio and television reports in Austrian and international media such as The New York Times, BBC World, Nature, New Scientist and Physics World.
Awards and Recognition
In 2017, Thurner was named Scientist of the Year by the Austrian Association of Science and Education Journalists. He was awarded the Paul Watzlawick Ring of Honor by the Vienna Medical Association in 2021.
Stefan Thurner portrait © Franziska Liehl