Jesper Hoffmeyer
Danish biologist
Jesper Hoffmeyer (21 February 1942 – 25 September 2019) was a professor at the University of Copenhagen Institute of Biology, and a leading figure in the emerging field of biosemiotics. He was the president of the International Society for Biosemiotic Studies (ISBS) from 2005 to 2015, co-editor of the journal Biosemiotics and the Springer Book series in Biosemiotics. He authored the books Biosemiotics: An Examination into the Signs of Life and the Life of Signs and Signs of Meaning in the Universe and edited A Legacy for Living Systems: Gregory Bateson as Precursor to Biosemiotics.
Biography
Jesper Hoffmeyer was born in Slangerup, Denmark in 1942. He received his Cand. Scient. in biochemistry from the University of Copenhagen in 1967, and from 1967-1968 he was Science Fellow at the Institut de Biochemie Génerale et Comparée of the Collège de France, Paris.
He began his teaching career in 1968 as an assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen's Institute for Biological Chemistry, where he became an associate professor in 1972, and served as the Head of the Institute from 1978-1980. Hoffmeyer was the recipient of the Poul Henningsen Award in 1985, the 1991 Mouton d’Or Award, and named a Thomas Sebeok Fellow by the Semiotic Society of America on the occasion of its 25th annual meeting in 2000.
Hoffmeyer was awarded a doctorate in philosophy (Dr.
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