Norbert Wiener

Norbert Wiener
Born	(1894-11-26)November 26, 1894 Columbia, Missouri, U.S.
Died	March 18, 1964(1964-03-18) (aged 69) , Sweden
Nationality	American
Fields	Mathematics Cybernetics
Institutions	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alma mater	Tufts College, B.A. 1909 Harvard University, Ph.D. 1913
Doctoral advisors	Karl Schmidt Josiah Royce
Doctoral students	Amar Bose Colin Cherry Shikao Ikehara Norman Levinson
Known for	Cybernetics Brownian motion abstract Wiener space Wiener amalgam space classical Wiener space Evolutionary informatics Generalized Wiener process Information revolution Philosophy of information Wiener algebra Wiener chaos expansion Wiener deconvolution Wiener entropy Wiener equation Wiener filter Wiener process Wiener series Wiener–Hopf method Wiener–Ikehara theorem Wiener–Khinchin theorem Paley–Wiener integral Paley–Wiener theorem Wiener–Wintner theorem Wiener's tauberian theorem
Notable awards	Bôcher Memorial Prize (1933) National Medal of Science (1963)

Norbert Wiener (November 26, 1894 – March 18, 1964) was an American mathematician and philosopher. He was a professor of mathematics at MIT. A famous child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in and mathematical processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.

Wiener is considered the originator of cybernetics, a formalization of the notion of feedback, with implications for engineering, systems control, computer science, biology, neuroscience, philosophy, and the organization of society.

Wiener was born in Columbia, Missouri, the first child of Leo Wiener and Bertha Kahn, Jews of Polish and German origin, respectively. Leo had educated Norbert at home until 1903, employing teaching methods of his own invention, except for a brief interlude when Norbert was seven years of age. Earning his living teaching German and Slavic languages, Leo read widely and accumulated a personal library from which the young Norbert benefited greatly. Leo also had ample ability in mathematics and tutored his son in the subject until he left home. In his autobiography, Norbert described his father as calm and patient, unless he (Norbert) failed to give a correct answer, at which his father would lose his temper.

He became an agnostic.

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