Norbert Wiener

Norbert Wiener 1894-1964, American mathematician, educator, and founder of the field of cybernetics, b. Columbia, Mo., grad. Tufts College, 1909, Ph.D. Harvard, 1913. In 1920 he joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he became (1932) professor of mathematics. He made significant contributions to a number of areas of mathematics including harmonic analysis and Fourier transforms, but is best known for his theory of cybernetics , the comparative study of control and communication in humans and machines. He also made significant contributions to the development of computers and calculators. Wiener recounted his youth and training in the autobiographical Ex-Prodigy (1953). He described his mature years and scientific career in I Am a Mathematician (1956). His other writings include The Human Use of Human Beings (1950), Nonlinear Problems in Random Theory (1958), and Cybernetics (1948, rev. ed. 1961).

Bibliography: See F. Conway and J. Siegelman, Dark Hero of the Information Age (2004).

Wiener, Norbert (1894–1964) US mathematician and originator of cybernetics. He contributed to the study and development of the computer and to the understanding of feedback systems that control the behaviour of humans and machines.