Eminent social scientist and philosopher.
From the description of Gregory Bateson papers, 1925-1985. (University of California, Santa Cruz). WorldCat record id: 18220165
Biographical Chronology
May 9, 1904
Born in Grantchester, Cambridgeshire, England. Third son of William Bateson (b. Aug. 8, 1861) and Caroline Beatrice Durham Bateson (b. 1870?). Brothers, John Bateson (b. April 22, 1898 - d. 1918) and Martin Bateson (b. 1899 - d. April 22, 1922). Grandson of William H. Bateson, Master of St. John's College, Cambridge and Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University and Anna Aitken Bateson.
1913
1917
Student, Warden House School, Upper Deal, Kent, England
1917
1921
Student, Charterhouse School, Godalming, Surrey, England
1918
Death of brother, John Bateson
April 22, 1922
Suicide of brother, Martin Bateson
1922 January
September 1922
Studies French & Botany at the University of Geneva and in Canton de Valais
1922
1926
Student, Cambridge University
Entrance Scholar, St. John's College, 1922
Foundation Scholar, 1924
Natural Science Tripos, First Class Honors, 1924
B.A., Natural Science, 1925
Anthropological Tripos, Pt.I, First class honors, 1926
December 1924
June 1925
Expedition to Galapagos, engaged in research on Geospizae for British Museum Bird Department and collection of pelagic Coelenterates under William Beebe, Arcturus Expedition
1925
1926
Anthropological Tripos, Pt.II under A.C. Haddon, Cambridge University; Classes in Social Psychology under F. C. Barlett and J. MacCurdy, Cambridge University
February 8, 1926
Death of father, William Bateson.
1926
1928
Anthony Wilkin Student, Cambridge University; Strathcoma Student, St. John's College, Cambridge
September 1926
Study in Germany
January 1927
January 1928
Anthropological field work in New Britain among the Baining of the Gazelle Peninsula
1928 April
July 1928
Teacher, Melanesian Linguistics, Sydney University
October 1928
January 1930
Anthropological field work among the Sulka of the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain and the Iatmul of New Guinea
1930
M.A., Anthropology, Cambridge University; Classes under Malinoski at London School of Economics
1931
1937
Research Fellow, St. John's College, Cambridge
January 1932
Summer 1933
Anthropological field work among the Iatmul of New Guinea
1933
1935
Worked on Naven at St. John's College, Cambridge
In Ireland with Waddington
Experimental Psychology under F. C. Bartlett
Visit to U.S., lecturing at Columbia University and the University of Chicago
January 1936
March 1938
Anthropological field work with Margaret Mead in Bali
March 1936
Married Margaret Mead (b. December 1916 - d. November 1978) in Singapore
December 1936
Publication of Naven
1937
Elected William Wyse Scholar in Social Anthropology, Cambridge University (resigned 1945)
April 1938
February 1939
Anthropological field work with wife, Margaret Mead among the Iatmul of New Guinea
1939 February
March 1939
Anthropological field work with wife, Margaret Mead in Bali
September 1939
January 1940
Voluntary work in England: analysis of radio broadcasts (Nazi) under Bartlett; and work with Mass Observation with T. Harrison, analyzing public opinion questionnaires
December 8, 1939
Birth of daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson
January 1940
September 1942
Analysis of Balinese and Iatmul material in collaboration with Margaret Mead, as guest of Department of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History
October 1940
1942
Secretary of the Committee for National Morale and the Council for Intercultural Relations (later Institute for Intercultural Studies)
Secretary for the Council on Human Relations for first few months
Worked for the Committee for National Morale.
Secretary of the Conference on Methods in Philosophy and the Sciences
Member of the Executive Committee of the Conference on Methods in Philosophy and the Sciences
May 1941
Death of mother, Caroline Beatrice Durham Bateson
May 1942
Macy conference on Cerebral Inhibition
September 1942
June 1943
Film Analyst, Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York
December 1942
Publication of Balinese Character: A Photographic Analysis with Margaret Mead
January 1943
January 1944
Teacher of Melanesian Pidgin English, Naval School of Military Government & Administration, Columbia University
July 1943
November 1945
Staff planner and Regional Specialist for Southeast Asia, U.S. Office of Strategic Services; overseas in Ceylon, India, Burma & China
November 1945
September 1946
Research into Balinese culture conducted at the American Museum of Natural History
March 1946
First Macy Conference on Feedback Mechanisms and Circular Causal Systems in Biological and Social Sciences
September 1946
June 1947
Visiting Professor of Anthropology, New School for Social Research, NY
Meeting on Teleological Mechanisms in Society
New York Academy of Sciences Conference on Teleological Mechanisms
Guggenheim Fellow
1947
1948
Associate in Columbia University Seminar in "Contents and Methods of the Social Sciences"
Visiting Professor of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusett
September 1948
October 1949
Research Associate with Dr. Jurgen Ruesch at the Langley Porter Clinic, University of California Medical School, San Francisco, CA
November 1949
1963
Ethnologist, Veterans Administration Hospital, Palo Alto, CA
October 23, 1950
Divorced from Margaret Mead
1950
Married Elizabeth Sumner
1951
Birth of son, John Bateson
1951
1963
Publication of Communication: The Social Matrix of Psychiatry by Jurgen Ruesch, Gregory Bateson
Visiting Professor of Anthropology, Stanford University, CA
1952
1954
Director, Rockefeller Foundation grant research project on the Role of Paradoxes of Abstraction in Communication
1954
1959
Director, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation grant research project on Schizophrenic Communication
1956
Becomes naturalized U.S. citizen
Begins work on The Natural History of an Interview project
1957
Divorced from second wife, Elizabeth Sumner
1958
Navan re-issued with new preface and epilogue
1959
1962
Principal Investigator, Research in Family Psychotherapy, funded by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Foundations' Fund for Research in Psychiatry
Visiting Professor, California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
Frieda Fromm-Reichmann Award for Research in Schizophrenia
Publication of Perceval's Narrative
Began work with octopus
1961
Married third wife, Lois Cammack
1963
1964
Associate Director, Communication Research Institute, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
Career Development Award, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
1965
1972
Associate Director, Oceanic Institute, Waimanalo, Hawaii
Visiting Professor of Anthropology, University of Hawaii
Professor & Director, International Honors Program, International School of America, traveling around the world
Publication of Steps to an Ecology of Mind
April 13, 1969
Birth of daughter, Nora Bateson
1972
1978
Visiting Senior Lecturer, University of California, Santa Cruz
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Appointed to Board of Regents of the University of California
November 15, 1978
Death of Margaret Mead
1978
1980
Scholar in residence, Esalen Institute
Worked on Where Angels Fear to Tread
Publication of Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity
July 4, 1980
Dies at the Zen Center, San Francisco, CA.
From the guide to the Gregory Bateson papers, 1925-1985, (University of California, Santa Cruz. University Library. Special Collections and Archives)