Minsky, Marvin (Lee)

(born Aug. 9, 1927, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. computer scientist. He received a Ph.D. from Princeton University and joined the faculty at MIT, where he remained for his entire career. His research contributed to advances in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, neural networks (he built the first neural-network simulator in 1951), and the theory of Turing machines. A pioneer in robotics, he built some of the first mechanical hands with tactile sensors, visual scanners, and accompanying software and computer interfaces. He influenced many robotic projects outside MIT and worked to build into machines the human capacity for commonsense reasoning. In his The Society of Mind (1987), 270 interconnected one-page ideas reflect the structure of his theory. He received the Turing Award in 1969.

Minsky, Marvin (1927– ) electrical engineer, mathematician, educator; born in New York City. A pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, as early as 1951 he built a "learning machine" to try to demonstrate that what we call mind is composed of mindless parts. In 1958 he became an assistant professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in 1974, professor in the department of electrical engineering and computer science.