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{{Short description|Belgian physical chemist (1917–2003)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Ilya Prigogine
| image             = Ilya Prigogine 1977c.jpg
| image_size        =
| caption           = Prigogine in 1977
| birth_name        = Ilya Romanovich Prigogine
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1917|1|25|df=y}}
| birth_place       = Moscow, Russia<!--See MOS:GEOLINK-->
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2003|5|28|1917|1|25|df=y}}
| death_place       = Brussels, Belgium
| citizenship       = [[Belgium|Belgian]] (1949–2003)
| field             = [[Chemistry]]<br/>[[Physics]]
| workplaces        = [[Free University of Brussels (1834–1969)|Free University of Brussels]], [[Université libre de Bruxelles]]<br/>International Solvay Institute<br/>[[University of Texas, Austin]]<br/>[[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater        = [[Free University of Brussels (1834–1969)|Free University of Brussels]]
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Théophile de Donder]]
| doctoral_students = {{plainlist|1=
*[[Adi Bulsara]]
*[[Radu Bălescu]]
*[[Paul Clavin]]
*[[Harry Friedmann]]
*[[Linda Reichl]]
}}
| known_for         = [[Dissipative structures]] <br/> [[Brusselator]] <br /> [[Non-equilibrium thermodynamics]]
| prizes            = {{no wrap|[[Francqui Prize]] <small>(1955)</small><br/>[[Rumford Medal]] {{small|(1976)}}<br/>[[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] {{small|(1977)}}}}
| spouse            = Hélène Jofé (m. 1945; son Yves Prigogine) Maria Prokopowicz (m. 1961; son Pascal Prigogine)
| relatives         = [[Alexandre Prigogine]] (brother) 
}}

[[Viscount]] '''Ilya Romanovich Prigogine''' ({{IPAc-en|p|r|ɪ|ˈ|ɡ|oʊ|ʒ|iː|n}}; {{langx|ru|Илья́ Рома́нович Приго́жин}}; {{OldStyleDate|25 January|1917|12 January}}{{snd}}28 May 2003) was a Belgian [[physical chemistry|physical chemist]] of Russian-Jewish origin, noted for his work on [[dissipative system|dissipative structures]], [[complex systems]], and [[irreversibility]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Prigogine |first1=I. |last2=Nicolis |first2=G. |date=1967-05-01 |title=On Symmetry-Breaking Instabilities in Dissipative Systems |url=https://pubs.aip.org/aip/jcp/article-abstract/46/9/3542/82566/On-Symmetry-Breaking-Instabilities-in-Dissipative?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=The Journal of Chemical Physics |volume=46 |issue=9 |pages=3542–3550 |doi=10.1063/1.1841255 |bibcode=1967JChPh..46.3542P |issn=0021-9606|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Prigogine |first1=I. |last2=Lefever |first2=R. |date=1968-02-15 |title=Symmetry Breaking Instabilities in Dissipative Systems. II |url=https://pubs.aip.org/aip/jcp/article-abstract/48/4/1695/83930/Symmetry-Breaking-Instabilities-in-Dissipative?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=The Journal of Chemical Physics |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=1695–1700 |doi=10.1063/1.1668896 |bibcode=1968JChPh..48.1695P |issn=0021-9606|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Nicolis |first1=G. |last2=Prigogine |first2=I. |date=1971 |title=Fluctuations in Nonequilibrium Systems |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=68 |issue=9 |pages=2102–2107 |doi=10.1073/pnas.68.9.2102 |doi-access=free |pmc=389361 |pmid=16591943|bibcode=1971PNAS...68.2102N }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Prigogine |first1=I. |last2=Nicolis |first2=G. |date=1971 |title=Biological order, structure and instabilities |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/quarterly-reviews-of-biophysics/article/abs/biological-order-structure-and-instabilities1/51612FE003077EFB2B99ED885B0F3B61 |journal=Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics |language=en |volume=4 |issue=2–3 |pages=107–148 |doi=10.1017/S0033583500000615 |pmid=4257403 |hdl=2152/24145 |issn=1469-8994|hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Citation |last1=Prigogine |first1=I. |title=Theory of Dissipative Structures |date=1973 |work=Synergetics: Cooperative Phenomena in Multi-Component Systems |pages=124–135 |editor-last=Haken |editor-first=H. |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-663-01511-6_10 |access-date=2025-01-03 |place=Wiesbaden |publisher=Vieweg+Teubner Verlag |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-663-01511-6_10 |isbn=978-3-663-01511-6 |last2=Lefever |first2=R.|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Prigogine's work most notably earned him the 1977 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] “for his contributions to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures”,<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1977 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1977/prigogine/facts/ |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US}}</ref> as well as the [[Francqui Prize]] in 1955, and the [[Rumford Medal]] in 1976.

==Biography==
===Early life and studies===
Prigogine was born in [[Moscow]] a few months before the [[October Revolution]] of 1917, into a [[Jews|Jewish]] family.<ref>Multiple sources:
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3-G3vi5av28C&q=prigogine+anti+semitic&pg=PA80 |title=Francis Leroy. A century of Nobel Prizes recipients: chemistry, physics, and medicine (p. 80) |access-date=12 March 2012|isbn=9780203014189 |date=13 March 2003 |last1=Leroy |first1=Francis |publisher=CRC Press }}
*{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1431987/Vicomte-Ilya-Prigogine.html |title=Vicomte Ilya Prigogine (Obituary, The Telegraph) |work=The Daily Telegraph|date=5 June 2003 |access-date=12 March 2012}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_80mmfL-i0MC&q=prigogine+jewish&pg=PA227 |title=Magnus Ramage, Karen Shipp. Systems Thinkers (p. 227) |access-date=12 March 2012|isbn=9781848825253 |date=29 September 2009 |last1=Ramage |first1=Magnus |last2=Shipp |first2=Karen |publisher=Springer }}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=108305&sectioncode=26 |title=Andrew Robinson. Time and notion |publisher=Timeshighereducation.co.uk |date=17 July 1998 |access-date=12 March 2012}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.chaosforum.com/docs/denkers/column7.html |title=Time and Change |publisher=Chaosforum.com |date=28 May 2003 |access-date=12 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425092616/http://www.chaosforum.com/docs/denkers/column7.html |archive-date=25 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}
*{{cite web|url=http://pagerankstudio.com/Blog/2010/09/ilya-prigogine-biography-life-and-career-facts-invented/ |title=Biography of Ilya Prigogine |publisher=Pagerankstudio.com |access-date=12 March 2012}}</ref> His father, Ruvim (Roman) Abramovich Prigogine, was a [[chemist]] who studied at the [[Bauman Moscow State Technical University|Imperial Moscow Technical School]] and owned a soap factory; his mother, Yulia Vikhman, was a pianist who attended the [[Moscow Conservatory]]. In 1921, the factory having been [[War communism|nationalized]] by the [[History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (1917–1927)|new Soviet regime]] and the feeling of insecurity rising amidst the [[Russian Civil War|civil war]], the family left Russia. After a brief period in [[Lithuania]], they went to [[Weimar Republic|Germany]] and settled in [[Berlin]]; 8 years later, due to the poor economic situation and the creeping emergence of [[Nazism]], they moved on to [[Brussels]], where Prigogine received Belgian nationality in 1949. His brother [[Alexandre Prigogine|Alexandre]] (1913–1991) became an ornithologist.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Obituary: Alexandre Prigogine (1913–1991)|pages=89–90|author=Louette, Michel|journal=Ibis|volume=134|year=1992|doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.1992.tb07238.x|doi-access=free}}</ref>

As a teenager, Prigogine was interested in music, history and archeology. He graduated from the ''Athenée d'[[Ixelles]]'' in 1935, majoring in Greek and Latin. His parents encouraged him to become a lawyer, and he initially enrolled in law studies at the [[Free University of Brussels (1834–1969)|Free University of Brussels]]. At that time he developed an interest in [[psychology]] and the [[Behavioural sciences|study of behavior]]; in turn, reading about these subjects triggered an interest in [[chemistry]], as chemical processes impact the [[mind]] and [[Mind–body problem|body]]; this also triggered a more fundamental interest in [[physics]], as they explain chemistry. He ended up dropping out from the law faculty.<ref name="rene">{{cite web |last1=Lefever |first1=René |title=NOTICE BIOGRAPHIQUE D'ILYA PRIGOGINE |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283273254 |website=Hosted on [[ResearchGate]]|publisher=[[Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium]] |access-date=9 March 2023 |date=8 November 2013}}</ref>

Prigogine afterwards simultaneously enrolled in [[chemistry]] and [[physics]] at the [[Free University of Brussels (1834–1969)|Free University of Brussels]], something he achieved with "uncommon success"; he earned the equivalent of a Master's degree in both disciplines in 1939, and a PhD in chemistry in 1941 under [[Théophile de Donder]].<ref name="rene"/><ref>{{cite web |title=FAREWELL TO ILYA PRIGOGINE (appendix)|url=http://users.auth.gr/~iantonio/MEMBERSIPFarewell.html |publisher=Chaos and Innovation Research Unit, [[Aristotle University of Thessaloniki]]|date=6 June 2003}}</ref>

===Early career, World War II===
He started his research career under the [[German occupation of Belgium during World War II|German occupation of Belgium]]. From 1940 onwards he gave clandestine lectures to students. In 1941, the university formally closed to protest the forced appointment of [[Flemish people|Flemish]] pro-Nazi [[New Order (Nazism)|New Order]] professors by the occupiers;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aron |first1=Paul |last2=Gotovich |first2=José |title=Dictionnaire de la seconde guerre mondiale en Belgique |date=2008 |publisher=André Versaille |location=Bruxelles |isbn=9782874950018}}</ref> he continued giving clandestine lectures until the [[Liberation of Belgium]] in 1944. During that time window he also published 21 articles. In 1943, Prigogine and his future wife Hélène Jofé were arrested by the Germans; after multiple interventions including by the [[Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of the Belgians|Queen Elisabeth]], they were eventually released a couple of weeks later.<ref name="rene"/>

===Later career===
In 1951, he became a full professor at his alma mater; at 34 years old, he was the youngest ever full professor at the science faculty in [[Brussels]].<ref name="rene"/> In 1959, he was appointed director of the [[Solvay Conference|International Solvay Institute]] in [[Brussels]], [[Belgium]]. In that year, he also started teaching at the [[University of Texas at Austin]] in the [[United States]], where he later was appointed Regental Professor and Ashbel Smith Professor of Physics and Chemical Engineering. From 1961 until 1966 he was affiliated with the [[Enrico Fermi Institute]] at the [[University of Chicago]] and was a visiting professor at [[Northwestern University]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Todd May|title=Emerging Trends in Continental Philosophy|date=11 September 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1317546788|page=114}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Northwestern Nobels: Northwestern Magazine – Northwestern University|url=http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/spring2017/feature/stoddart_sidebar/northwestern-nobels|access-date=2021-01-05|website=www.northwestern.edu}}{{Dead link|date=January 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In Austin, in 1967, he co-founded the Center for Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics, now the [[Center for Complex Quantum Systems]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.utexas.edu/news/2003/05/28/nr_prigogine/|title=Nobel Prize-winning physical chemist dies in Brussels at age 86|publisher=Utexas.edu|date=28 May 2003|access-date=19 December 2012|archive-date=2 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002174323/http://www.utexas.edu/news/2003/05/28/nr_prigogine/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In that year, he also returned to [[Belgium]], where he became director of the Center for Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics.

He was a member of numerous scientific organizations, and received numerous awards, prizes and 53 honorary degrees. In 1955, Prigogine was awarded the [[Francqui Prize]] for Exact Sciences. For his study in [[irreversibility|irreversible]] [[thermodynamics]], he received the [[Rumford Medal]] in 1976, and in 1977, the [[Nobel Prize]] in [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] "for his contributions to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of [[dissipative structures]]".<ref name=":4" /> In 1989, he was awarded the title of [[viscount]] in the [[Belgian nobility]] by the [[King of the Belgians]]. Until his death, he was president of the International Academy of Science, Munich and was in 1997, one of the founders of the International Commission on Distance Education (CODE), a worldwide accreditation agency.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ias-icsd.org/history.html|title=History – International Academy of Science, Munich|website=www.ias-icsd.org|access-date=30 March 2018|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402142953/http://www.ias-icsd.org/history.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[http://www.ias-icsd.org/resources/ICSD-IAS-Presidium.pdf International Council for Scientific Development. Presidium] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402134720/http://www.ias-icsd.org/resources/ICSD-IAS-Presidium.pdf |date=2 April 2015 }}. ias-icsd.org</ref> Prigogine received an Honorary Doctorate from [[Heriot-Watt University]] in 1985<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm|title=Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates|website=www1.hw.ac.uk|access-date=5 April 2016|archive-date=18 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418163907/http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> and in 1998 he was awarded an ''[[honoris causa]]'' doctorate by the [[UNAM]] in [[Mexico City]].

Prigogine was first married to Belgian poet Hélène Jofé (as an author also known as Hélène Prigogine) and in 1945 they had a son Yves. After their divorce, he married Polish-born [[chemist]] Maria Prokopowicz (also known as Maria Prigogine) in 1961. In 1970 they had a son, Pascal.<ref>Ilya Prigogine. (2003). [https://books.google.com/books?id=VqSMk7IpzacC&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97 Curriculum Vitae of Ilya Prigogine In Is future given]. World Scientific.</ref>

In 2003 he was one of 22 Nobel Laureates who signed the [[Humanism and Its Aspirations|Humanist Manifesto]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_III/Notable_Signers |title=Notable Signers |publisher=American Humanist Association |work=Humanism and Its Aspirations |access-date=4 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005105825/http://www.americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_III/Notable_Signers |archive-date=5 October 2012  }}</ref>

==Research==
Prigogine defined [[dissipative structures]] and their role in [[thermodynamic system]]s far from [[thermodynamic equilibrium|equilibrium]],<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> a discovery that won him the [[Nobel Prize]] in Chemistry in 1977.<ref name=":4" /> In summary, Ilya Prigogine discovered that importation and dissipation of energy into chemical systems could result in the emergence of new structures (hence dissipative structures) due to internal self reorganization.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Nicolis |first1=Grégoire |url=https://difusion.ulb.ac.be/vufind/Record/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/251776/Details |title=Self-organization in nonequilibrium systems : from dissipative structures to order through fluctuations |last2=Prigogine |first2=Ilya |date=1977 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-471-02401-9 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Brent |first=Sandor B. |date=1978 |title=Prigogine's Model for Self-Organization in Nonequilibrium Systems: Its Relevance for Developmental Psychology |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26765555 |journal=Human Development |volume=21 |issue=5/6 |pages=374–387 |doi=10.1159/000272417 |jstor=26765555 |issn=0018-716X}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=P. T. Macklem|title=Emergent phenomena and the secrets of life|journal=Journal of Applied Physiology|date=3 April 2008|volume=104|issue=6|pages=1844–1846|doi=10.1152/japplphysiol.00942.2007|pmid=18202170}}</ref> In his 1955 text, Prigogine drew connections between dissipative structures and the [[Rayleigh–Bénard convection|Rayleigh-Bénard instability]] and the [[Turing pattern|Turing mechanism]].<ref>I. Prigogine, ''Introduction to Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes'', Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Springfield, Illinois, 1955</ref> And his 1977 work on self-reorganization was recognized as relevant for psychology.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brent |first=Sandor B. |date=1978 |title=Prigogine's Model for Self-Organization in Nonequilibrium Systems: Its Relevance for Developmental Psychology |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26765555 |journal=Human Development |volume=21 |issue=5/6 |pages=374–387 |doi=10.1159/000272417 |jstor=26765555 |issn=0018-716X}}</ref>

===Dissipative structures theory===
[[Dissipative structure|Dissipative structure theory]] led to pioneering research in [[self-organizing system]]s, as well as philosophical inquiries into the formation of [[complexity]] in biological entities and the quest for a creative and irreversible role of time in the [[natural science]]s.

With professor [[Robert Herman]], he also developed the basis of the [[two fluid model]],<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last1=Prigogine |first1=I. |last2=Herman |first2=R. |date=1971 |title=KINETIC THEORY OF VEHICULAR TRAFFIC |url=https://trid.trb.org/View/115269 |language=en-US}}</ref> a traffic model in [[traffic engineering (transportation)|traffic engineering]] for urban networks, analogous to the two fluid model in classical statistical mechanics,<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Herman |first1=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4YgAQAAMAAJ |title=Kinetic Theory of Vehicular Traffic: Comparison with Data |last2=Lam |first2=Tenny |last3=Prigogine |first3=Ilya |date=1971 |publisher=General Motors Research Laboratories |language=en}}</ref> a common problem that had attracted Prigogine's attention some years before.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Prigogine |first1=I. |last2=Andrews |first2=F. C. |date=1960 |title=A Boltzmann-Like Approach for Traffic Flow |url=https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/opre.8.6.789 |journal=Operations Research |volume=8 |issue=6 |pages=789–797 |doi=10.1287/opre.8.6.789 |issn=0030-364X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Prigogine's formal concept of [[self-organization]] was used also as a "complementary bridge" between [[General Systems Theory|general systems theory]] and [[thermodynamics]], conciliating the cloudiness of some important systems theory concepts such as [[Entropy|entropy]] instead of molecular disorder,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1977 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1977/prigogine/biographical/ |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US}}</ref>{{which|date=December 2013}} and [[Emergence|emergence]], fluctuations and irreversibility instead of “birth and death”<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Prigogine |first=I. |date=1973 |title=Irreversibility as a Symmetry-breaking Process |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/246067a0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=246 |issue=5428 |pages=67–71 |doi=10.1038/246067a0 |bibcode=1973Natur.246...67P |issn=1476-4687|url-access=subscription }}</ref> with scientific rigor.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Balescu |first=Radu |date=2003 |title=Ilya Prigogine (1917–2003) |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/424030a |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=424 |issue=6944 |pages=30 |doi=10.1038/424030a |issn=1476-4687}}</ref>

===Work on unsolved problems in physics===
{{see also|Unsolved problems in physics}}
In his later years, his work concentrated on the fundamental role of [[indeterminism]] in [[nonlinear dynamics|nonlinear systems]] on both the [[classical physics|classical]] and [[quantum physics|quantum]] level. Prigogine and coworkers proposed a [[Liouville's theorem (Hamiltonian)|Liouville space]] extension of quantum mechanics.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Petrosky |first1=T. |last2=Prigogine |first2=I. |date=1991-06-15 |title=Alternative formulation of classical and quantum dynamics for non-integrable systems |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/037843719190273F |journal=Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications |volume=175 |issue=1 |pages=146–209 |doi=10.1016/0378-4371(91)90273-F |bibcode=1991PhyA..175..146P |issn=0378-4371|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":7" />A Liouville space is the [[vector space]] formed by the set of (self-adjoint) [[linear operator]]s, equipped with an inner product, that act on a [[Hilbert space]].<ref>Gregg Jaeger: ''Quantum Information: An Overview'', Springer, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-387-35725-6}}, Chapter B.3 "Lioville space and open quantum systems", [https://books.google.com/books?id=E0ho97k7S4oC&pg=PA248 p. 248]</ref> There exists a mapping of each linear operator into Liouville space, yet not every self-adjoint operator of Liouville space has a counterpart in Hilbert space, and in this sense Liouville space has a richer structure than Hilbert space.<ref>T. Sida, K. Saitô, Si Si (eds.): ''Quantum Information and Complexity: Proceedings of the Meijo Winter School, 6–10 January 2003'', World Scientific Publishing, 2004, {{ISBN|978-981-256-047-6}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BQ1MPLxzR4AC&pg=PA62 p. 62]</ref> The Liouville space extension proposal by Prigogine and co-workers aimed to solve the [[Entropy (arrow of time)#Current research|arrow of time problem]] of thermodynamics and the [[measurement problem]] of quantum mechanics.<ref name=":7">{{cite journal|author=T. Petrosky|author2=I. Prigogine|year=1997|title=The Liouville Space Extension of Quantum Mechanics|journal=Adv. Chem. Phys.|series=Advances in Chemical Physics|volume=99|pages=1–120|doi=10.1002/9780470141588.ch1|isbn=978-0-470-14158-8}}<!--| access-date = 10 April 2011--></ref>

Prigogine co-authored several books with [[Isabelle Stengers]], including ''The End of Certainty'' and ''La Nouvelle Alliance'' (''Order out of Chaos'').

===''The End of Certainty''===
In his 1996 book, ''La Fin des certitudes'', written in collaboration with Isabelle Stengers and published in English in 1997 as ''The End of Certainty: Time, Chaos, and the New Laws of Nature'', Prigogine contends that determinism is no longer a viable scientific belief: "The more we know about our universe, the more difficult it becomes to believe in determinism." This is a major departure from the approach of [[Isaac Newton|Newton]], [[Albert Einstein|Einstein]] and [[Erwin Schrödinger|Schrödinger]], all of whom expressed their theories in terms of deterministic equations. According to Prigogine, determinism loses its explanatory power in the face of [[irreversibility]] and [[instability]].

Prigogine traces the dispute over determinism back to [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]], whose attempt to explain individual variability according to evolving populations inspired [[Ludwig Boltzmann]] to explain the behavior of gases in terms of populations of particles rather than individual particles.{{sfnp|Prigogine|Stengers|1997|p=19–20}} This led to the field of [[statistical mechanics]] and the realization that gases undergo [[irreversible process]]es. In deterministic physics, all processes are time-reversible, meaning that they can proceed backward as well as forward through time. As Prigogine explains, determinism is fundamentally a denial of the [[arrow of time]]. With no arrow of time, there is no longer a privileged moment known as the "present," which follows a determined "past" and precedes an undetermined "future." All of time is simply given, with the future as determined or as undetermined as the past. With irreversibility, the arrow of time is reintroduced to physics. Prigogine notes numerous examples of irreversibility, including [[diffusion]], [[radioactive decay]], [[solar radiation]], [[weather]] and the emergence and evolution of [[life]]. Like weather systems, organisms are unstable systems existing far from [[thermodynamic equilibrium]]. Instability resists standard deterministic explanation. Instead, due to sensitivity to initial conditions, unstable systems can only be explained statistically, that is, in terms of [[probability]].

Prigogine asserts that [[Newtonian physics]] has now been "extended" three times:{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}} first with the introduction of [[spacetime]] in [[general relativity]], then with the use of the [[wave function]] in [[quantum mechanics]], and finally with the recognition of [[indeterminism]] in the study of unstable systems ([[chaos theory]]).

==Publications==
* {{cite book | last1=Prigogine | first1=I. | last2=Defay | first2=R. | year=1954 | title=Chemical Thermodynamics | location=London | publisher=Longmans Green and Co.}}
* {{cite book | last1=Prigogine | first1=I. | year=1955 | title=Introduction to Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes | location=Springfield, Illinois | publisher=Charles C. Thomas Publisher}}
* {{cite book | last=Prigogine | first=Ilya | year=1957 | title=The Molecular Theory of Solutions | location=Amsterdam | publisher = North Holland Publishing Company}}
* {{cite book | last=Prigogine | first=Ilya | year=1961 | title=Introduction to Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes | url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontoth0000prig | url-access=registration | edition=Second | location=New York | publisher=Interscience| oclc=219682909}}
* {{cite book| last=Prigogine |first=Ilya |title=Non-equilibrium statistical mechanics|series=Monographs in Statistical Physics and Thermodynamics, Vol. I|publisher=Interscience Publishers|year=1962}}<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.3051153 |title=review of ''Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics'' by I. Prigogine|date=1963 |last=Landshoff |first=R. |journal=Physics Today |volume=16 |issue=9 |pages=76–78 |bibcode=1963PhT....16i..76P }} [https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article-abstract/16/9/78/423758/Generalized-Functions-and-Partial-Differential?redirectedFrom=fulltext p. 78]</ref> {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QRQ6DgAAQBAJ | title=2017 reprint | date=27 February 2017 | isbn=978-0-486-82040-8 | publisher=Courier Dover Publications }}
*Defay, R. & Prigogine, I. (1966). Surface tension and adsorption. Longmans, Green & Co. LTD.
* {{cite book | last=Glansdorff | first=Paul | year=1971 |author2=Prigogine, I. | title=Thermodynamics Theory of Structure, Stability and Fluctuations | location=London | publisher=Wiley-Interscience}}
* {{cite book | last=Prigogine | first=Ilya | year=1971 |author2=Herman, R. | title=Kinetic Theory of Vehicular Traffic | location=New York | publisher=American Elsevier | isbn=0-444-00082-8 }}
* {{cite book | last=Prigogine | first=Ilya | year=1977 |author2=Nicolis, G. | title=Self-Organization in Non-Equilibrium Systems | publisher=Wiley| isbn=0-471-02401-5}}
* {{cite book | last=Prigogine | first=Ilya | year=1980 | title=From Being To Becoming | publisher=Freeman | isbn=0-7167-1107-9 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/frombeingtobecom00ipri }}<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.2890013 |title=review of ''From Being to Becoming: Time and Complexity in the Physical Sciences'' by Ilya Prigogine |date=1982 |author=Hiebert, Erwin N. |author-link=Erwin N. Hiebert |journal=Physics Today |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=69–70 |bibcode=1982PhT....35a..69P }} [https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article-abstract/35/1/70/433681/Elements-of-Acoustics?redirectedFrom=fulltext p. 70]</ref>
* {{cite book | last=Prigogine | first=Ilya | year=1984 |author2=Stengers, Isabelle | title=Order out of Chaos: Man's new dialogue with nature | publisher=Flamingo | isbn=0-00-654115-1}} {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gOdOEAAAQBAJ | title=2018 edition | date=23 January 2018 |isbn=978-1-78663-100-8 | publisher=Verso Books }}
* Prigogine, I. ''The Behavior of Matter under Nonequilibrium Conditions: Fundamental Aspects and Applications in Energy-oriented Problems'', [[United States Department of Energy]], Progress Reports: 
**[https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6892665-behavior-matter-under-nonequilibrium-conditions-fundamental-aspects-applications-energy-oriented-problems-progress-report-period-september-november September 1984 – November 1987], (7 October 1987). Department of Physics at the University of Texas-Austin
** [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6476254-behavior-matter-under-nonequilibrium-conditions-fundamental-aspects-applications-progress-report-april-april 15 April 1988 – 14 April 1989], (January 1989), Center for Studies in Statistical Mathematics at the University of Texas-Austin.
**[https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6139111-behavior-matter-under-nonequilibrium-conditions-fundamental-aspects-applications-progress-report-period-april-april 15 April 1990 – 14 April 1991], (December 1990), Center for Studies in Statistical Mechanics and Complex Systems at the University of Texas-Austin. 
* {{cite book | last=Nicolis | first=G. | year=1989 |author2=Prigogine, I. | title=Exploring complexity: An introduction | location=New York, NY | publisher=W. H. Freeman | isbn=0-7167-1859-6}}<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.2810725 |title=review of ''Exploring Complexity: An Introduction'' by Grégoire Nicolis and Ilya Prigogine|date=1990 |last1=Carruthers |first1=Peter |journal=Physics Today |volume=43 |issue=10 |pages=96–97 |bibcode=1990PhT....43j..96N }}</ref>
* Prigogine, I. [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6390561-time-dynamics-chaos-integrating-poincare-non-integrable-systems  "Time, Dynamics and Chaos: Integrating Poincare's 'Non-Integrable Systems'"], Center for Studies in Statistical Mechanics and Complex Systems at the University of Texas-Austin, [[United States Department of Energy]]-Office of Energy Research, Commission of the European Communities (October 1990).
* {{cite book | last=Prigogine | first=Ilya | year=1993 | title=Chaotic Dynamics and Transport in Fluids and Plasmas: Research Trends in Physics Series | location=New York | publisher=American Institute of Physics | isbn=0-88318-923-2}}
* Petrosky, T. & Prigogine, I. (1997). [http://dx.doi.org/10.1002%2F9780470141588.ch1 The Liouville space extension of quantum mechanics]. In: ''Advances in Chemical Physics'', 99, 1-120.
*{{cite book|first1=Ilya |last1=Prigogine|first2=Isabelle |last2=Stengers |title=The End of Certainty |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-VI8093PJuUC |date=1997 |publisher=The Free Press |isbn=978-0-684-83705-5 }}
* {{cite book | last1=Kondepudi | first1=Dilip | last2=Prigogine | first2=Ilya | year=1998 | title=Modern Thermodynamics: From Heat Engines to Dissipative Structures | publisher=Wiley  | isbn=978-0-471-97394-2}} {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TLrlBQAAQBAJ | title=2014 edition | isbn=978-1-118-37181-7 | last1=Kondepudi | first1=Dilip | last2=Prigogine | first2=Ilya | date=31 December 2014 | publisher=John Wiley & Sons }}
* {{cite book | last=Prigogine | first=Ilya | title=Advances in Chemical Physics | location=New York | publisher=Wiley InterScience | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-471-26431-6 | access-date=29 July 2008 | url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/bookhome/93517918/ProductInformation.html| archive-url=https://archive.today/20121217210216/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/bookhome/93517918/ProductInformation.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=17 December 2012}}
* Editor (with Stuart A. Rice) of the [http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/bookseries/114180445/home Advances in Chemical Physics]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} book series published by [[John Wiley & Sons]] (presently over 140 volumes)
* Prigogine I, (papers and interviews) ''Is future given?'', World Scientific, 2003. {{ISBN|9789812385086}} (145p.)

== Ilya Prigogine Prize for Thermodynamics ==
The Ilya Prigogine Prize for Thermodynamics was initialized in 2001 and patronized by Ilya Prigogine himself until his death in 2003. It is awarded on a biennial basis during the Joint European Thermodynamics Conference (JETC) and considers all branches of thermodynamics (applied, theoretical, and experimental as well as quantum thermodynamics and classical thermodynamics).

==See also==
{{Portal|Systems science}}
* [[Autocatalytic reactions and order creation]]
* [[List of Jewish Nobel laureates]]
* [[Schismatrix]] <!-- influential cyberpunk novel which coopts Prigogine's dissipative structures theory-->
* [[Systems theory]] <!-- his works on self-organization conciliate important "systems theory concepts" with "system thermodynamics" -->
* [[Prigogine's theorem]]
* [[Process philosophy]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web | editor=Karl Grandin | title=Ilya Prigogine Autobiography | url=http://www.nobel.se/chemistry/laureates/1977/prigogine-autobio.html | work=Les Prix Nobel | publisher=The Nobel Foundation | year=1977 | access-date=24 July 2008}}
* {{cite journal | last=Eftekhari | first=Ali | title=Obituary – Prof. Ilya Prigogine (1917–2003) | journal=Adaptive Behavior | volume=11 | issue=2 | pages=129–131 | year=2003 | url=http://www.ait.ac/papers/eftekhari/AB11-129.pdf | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327050704/http://www.ait.ac/papers/eftekhari/AB11-129.pdf | archive-date=27 March 2009 | df=dmy-all | doi=10.1177/10597123030112005 | s2cid=221315813 }}
* {{cite web | author=Barbra Rodriguez | title=Nobel Prize-winning physical chemist dies in Brussels at age 86 | url=http://order.ph.utexas.edu/people/Prigogine.htm | publisher= University of Texas at Austin | date=28 May 2003 | access-date=29 July 2008}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ilya Prigogine}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture, 8 December 1977 ''Time, Structure and Fluctuations''
* [http://order.ph.utexas.edu The Center for Complex Quantum Systems]
* [http://www.kanadas.com/emergent.html Emergent computation]
* {{YouTube|2NCdpMlYJxQ|Video of Ilya Prigogine talking about complexity}}
* {{YouTube|MnD0IlBvgO4|An interview of Ilya Prigogine with Giannis Zisis}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160310212835/http://oldportal.euscreen.eu/play.jsp?id=EUS_65C0E3CC51E541D489AD452223D564C3 Interview with Prigogine (Belgian VRT, 1977)]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname= Ilya Prigogine}}

{{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 1976-2000}}
{{1977 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{International Society for the Systems Sciences Presidents}}
{{Systems}}

{{Authority control}}

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