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Norbert Wiener was an American mathematician who initiated the science of [[Cybernetics]].

Wiener was a child prodigy in mathematics. In his Ph.D dissertation on mathematical logic, written when he was only 18, Wiener was the first to see that the ordered pair can be defined in terms of elementary set theory. This implies that the theory of relations needs no axioms distinct from those of set theory. After obtaining his doctorate he studied in Europe under Bertrand Russell and G. H. Hardy in England and David Hilbert and Edmund Landau in Germany. Wiener worked on ballistics during World War I and after the war became an instructor in mathematics at MIT. 

In 1926, Wiener returned to Europe as a Guggenheim scholar, spending most of his time at Göttingen and with G.H. Hardy at Cambridge. During this period Wiener worked on Brownian motion, the Fourier integral, Dirichlet's problem, harmonic analysis, and the Tauberian theorems. He was a pioneer in the study of stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering and electronic communication, notably providing a foundation for [[Claude Shannon]]'s invention of information science.

During World War II, Wiener's work on the automatic aiming and firing of anti-aircraft guns led him to communication theory. He may have conceived the idea of considering the operator as part of the steering mechanism and of applying to the operator such notions as feedback and stability, which had been devised for mechanical systems and electrical circuits. Together with physiologist [[Arturo Rosenblueth]] and electrical engineer [[Julian Bigelow]], Wiener published in 1943 the seminal paper "Behavior, Purpose and Teleology," concerning the ways in which mechanical, biological, and electronic systems communicate and interact. A "teleological" system is one that aims towards a specific goal, which can only be achieved if the system uses feedback to correct its orientation.

In March 1946 Wiener attended the inaugural session of the [[Macy Conferences]], which was entitled "Feedback Mechanisms and Circular Causal Systems in Biological and Social Systems." The ten [[Macy Conferences]] held between 1946 and 1953 were the first organised approach to interdisciplinarity, bringing together experts from a wide range of disciplines to discuss systems theory. Wiener was one of the core members who participated in all of the [[Macy Conferences]]. At the inaugural session he presented an overview of automatic mechanisms for self-regulation.

In the spring of 1947, Wiener was invited to a congress on harmonic analysis, held in Nancy, France. While in France, Wiener received the offer to write a manuscript on the unifying character of harmonic analysis, which is found in the study of Brownian motion and in telecommunication engineering. In the summer of 1947, back in the United States, Wiener decided to introduce into his scientific theory the neologism [[Cybernetics]] to denote the study of "teleological mechanisms." His book Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and Machine, a technical presentation of cybernetics, was published in 1948. Wiener popularized the social implications of cybernetics in a more readable and best-selling sequel called The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society, published in 1950.

Wiener's prominence helped MIT to recruit a research team in cognitive science, including researchers in neuropsychology, notably [[Warren McCulloch]] and [[Walter Pitts]]. From 1952 McCulloch worked at the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics on neural network modelling. This group went on to make pioneering contributions to computer science and artificial intelligence. Shortly after the group was formed, Wiener broke off all contact with its members, and the reasons for split remain a subject of speculation.

During the war, Wiener had declined an invitation to join the Manhattan Project. After the war, he became concerned with what he saw as political interference in scientific research, and published an article "A Scientist Rebels" in the January 1947 issue of The Atlantic Monthly urging scientists to consider the ethical implications of their work. He thereafter refused to accept any government funding or to work on military projects. Breaking new ground in cybernetics, robotics, computer control, and automation, he shared his findings with other researchers, and credited their contributions, including those of Soviet researchers. Wiener's connections with them placed him under suspicion during the Cold War. He was a strong advocate of automation to improve the standard of living, and to overcome economic underdevelopment.

==Links==
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener

[[Category:Post-War Cybernetics]]