Norbert Wiener
The name of this person, who was keenly interested in the problems of natural science, became known to the whole world after the publication of his book Cybernetics in 1948. Norbert Wiener is a famous American mathematician who made a notable contribution to the theory of communication, who participated in the creation of the first computers.
Nothing foreshadowed such a sensational success. In 1946, while in Paris at a conference on mathematics, Wiener met with the publisher, who invited him to write a book about the feedback between automata (machines) and the human nervous system.
')
Starting working on a book, Wiener pondered over its title for a long time. He wanted to find a word that would somehow unite the ideas of management, information and communication. His choice he stopped at the Greek dictionary "cybernetics". (The ancient Greek thinker Plato was the first to use this word; Ampere in the 19th century proposed to call the science of the management of human society so.)
"Cybernetics" was published with large errors (including because Wiener was not able to keep the proofreading), and the publisher did not appreciate the commercial future of the book. But she became a true goalless, one of the most popular books of the XX century. The word "cybernetics" gained extraordinary popularity, and Wiener's ideas made a breakthrough in the consciousness of humanity.
Norbert Wiener was born on November 26, 1894 in Columbia (Missouri, USA). His father was a polyglot, a Slavic scholar, a connoisseur of literature, a translator. From early childhood, the boy studied ancient languages, natural sciences, read a lot. He was a child prodigy: he graduated from high school at the age of 11, a high school at 14 (at the same time he received the title of Bachelor of Science), at the age of 17 he became a master of arts, and at 18 - a doctor of philosophy in mathematical logic. Having received a scholarship from Harvard University, Wiener was an intern at the University of Cambridge and Gottingen. He was acquainted with Bertrand Russell, Godfrey Hardy, Edmund Landau, David Gilbert and other famous mathematicians.
After World War I, Wiener achieved outstanding results in mathematics. In the 20s. XX century. He identified the so-called Wiener process , and published a number of remarkable works on harmonic analysis, which served as one of the starting points for Gelfund's work on the theory of Banach algebras, a major event in mathematics of the 1930s. Since 1932 Wiener has been a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
During World War II, Norbert Wiener dealt with applied problems related, in particular, to the needs of aviation and anti-aircraft artillery. He supplemented the theory of extrapolation and filtering of random processes created by A.N. Kolmogorov before the war in a series of works published for official use (because of their secrecy). Wiener applied a mathematical apparatus that was not part of traditional engineering education. Therefore, the book, published in the yellow cover, was named among the engineers to whom the yellow danger was addressed.
The American mathematician Claude Shannon "translated" it into a simpler engineering language, and since then, constant contacts have been established between these prominent scientific figures of the 20th century.
During the war years, Wiener organized a seminar in Princeton, in which, in addition to mathematicians, neurophysiologists and specialists in communication theory and computer science took part. This seminar actually became the beginning of a scientific field, later named cybernetics.
The name Wiener has become very popular. In the last years of his life he traveled a lot, promoting his ideas. I also visited Moscow, where I met with mathematicians, biochemists and psychologists, and made a report at the Polytechnic Museum.
Winner died March 19, 1964
Nothing foreshadowed such a sensational success. In 1946, while in Paris at a conference on mathematics, Wiener met with the publisher, who invited him to write a book about the feedback between automata (machines) and the human nervous system.
')
Starting working on a book, Wiener pondered over its title for a long time. He wanted to find a word that would somehow unite the ideas of management, information and communication. His choice he stopped at the Greek dictionary "cybernetics". (The ancient Greek thinker Plato was the first to use this word; Ampere in the 19th century proposed to call the science of the management of human society so.)
"Cybernetics" was published with large errors (including because Wiener was not able to keep the proofreading), and the publisher did not appreciate the commercial future of the book. But she became a true goalless, one of the most popular books of the XX century. The word "cybernetics" gained extraordinary popularity, and Wiener's ideas made a breakthrough in the consciousness of humanity.
Norbert Wiener was born on November 26, 1894 in Columbia (Missouri, USA). His father was a polyglot, a Slavic scholar, a connoisseur of literature, a translator. From early childhood, the boy studied ancient languages, natural sciences, read a lot. He was a child prodigy: he graduated from high school at the age of 11, a high school at 14 (at the same time he received the title of Bachelor of Science), at the age of 17 he became a master of arts, and at 18 - a doctor of philosophy in mathematical logic. Having received a scholarship from Harvard University, Wiener was an intern at the University of Cambridge and Gottingen. He was acquainted with Bertrand Russell, Godfrey Hardy, Edmund Landau, David Gilbert and other famous mathematicians.
After World War I, Wiener achieved outstanding results in mathematics. In the 20s. XX century. He identified the so-called Wiener process , and published a number of remarkable works on harmonic analysis, which served as one of the starting points for Gelfund's work on the theory of Banach algebras, a major event in mathematics of the 1930s. Since 1932 Wiener has been a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
During World War II, Norbert Wiener dealt with applied problems related, in particular, to the needs of aviation and anti-aircraft artillery. He supplemented the theory of extrapolation and filtering of random processes created by A.N. Kolmogorov before the war in a series of works published for official use (because of their secrecy). Wiener applied a mathematical apparatus that was not part of traditional engineering education. Therefore, the book, published in the yellow cover, was named among the engineers to whom the yellow danger was addressed.
The American mathematician Claude Shannon "translated" it into a simpler engineering language, and since then, constant contacts have been established between these prominent scientific figures of the 20th century.
During the war years, Wiener organized a seminar in Princeton, in which, in addition to mathematicians, neurophysiologists and specialists in communication theory and computer science took part. This seminar actually became the beginning of a scientific field, later named cybernetics.
The name Wiener has become very popular. In the last years of his life he traveled a lot, promoting his ideas. I also visited Moscow, where I met with mathematicians, biochemists and psychologists, and made a report at the Polytechnic Museum.
Winner died March 19, 1964
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/79674/
All Articles