Mark Blackburn (numismatist) Society (FRHistS). He was awarded the 2008 Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society. In 2008, he was awarded the John Sanford Saltus Medal by the British Numismatic Society. In 2011, he was awarded the Derek Allen Prize by the British Academy. Mark Blackburn (numismatist) Mark Alistair Sinclair Blackburn, (5 January 1953 – 1 September 2011) was a British numismatist and economic historian. He was Keeper of Coins and Medals at Fitzwilliam Museum from 1991 to 2011, Reader in Numismatics and Monetary History at the University of Cambridge from 2004 to 2011, and a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
The purpose of a system is what it does The purpose of a system is what it does The purpose of a system is what it does (POSIWID) is a systems thinking heuristic coined by Stafford Beer. Stafford Beer coined the term POSIWID and used it many times in public addresses. In his address to the University of Valladolid, Spain, in October 2001, he said "According to the cybernetician, the purpose of a system is what it does. This is a basic dictum. It stands for bald fact, which makes a better starting point in seeking understanding than the familiar attributions of good intention, prejudices about expectations, moral judgment,