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Norbert Wiener
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Norbert Wiener

MIT mathematician who founded cybernetics

26 November 1894 – 18 March 1964 United States Verified by our editors
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Lived
69 yrs
1894 – 1964
Works listed
3
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Norbert Wiener was an American mathematician at MIT who founded cybernetics, the study of control and communication in animals and machines. His work on feedback, noise and prediction influenced engineering, computing and artificial intelligence, and he warned early about the social effects of automation.

Biography

Child prodigy

Wiener entered Tufts College at 11 and earned his Harvard PhD at 18. He studied with Bertrand Russell in Cambridge and David Hilbert in Göttingen, then joined MIT in 1919, where he stayed for the rest of his career.

Mathematics

He gave the mathematical description of Brownian motion now called the Wiener process, which is used in physics and finance, and made major contributions to harmonic analysis.

War work and cybernetics

Working on anti-aircraft fire control during the Second World War, he developed methods for predicting signals in noise, known as the Wiener filter. His 1948 book Cybernetics described feedback as the key to how both living things and machines regulate themselves.

Ethics of technology

In The Human Use of Human Beings (1950) Wiener warned that automation could replace human workers and urged scientists to think about the consequences of their work. He refused to work on weapons after 1945. He died in Stockholm in 1964.

Timeline

  1. 1894

    Born in Columbia, Missouri, United States

  2. 1906

    Enters Tufts College aged 11

  3. 1913

    PhD from Harvard

  4. 1919

    Joins MIT

  5. 1923

    Mathematical theory of Brownian motion

  6. 1948

    Publishes Cybernetics

  7. 1950

    The Human Use of Human Beings

  8. 1964

    Dies in Stockholm

  9. 1964

    Died, aged 69

Notable works

  • 1948

    Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine Book

  • 1950

    The Human Use of Human Beings Book

  • 1964

    God & Golem, Inc. Book

Awards and honours

  • Bôcher Memorial Prize

    1933

  • National Medal of Science

    1963

  • National Book Award

    1965

Did you know?

  1. 1

    The prefix “cyber-” in words like cyberspace comes from his “cybernetics”.

  2. 2

    He was famously absent-minded, the subject of many MIT anecdotes.

  3. 3

    His father was a professor of Slavic languages at Harvard.

Connections

Related people

Also born on 26 November

Frequently asked

Who is Norbert Wiener?

Norbert Wiener was an American mathematician at MIT who founded cybernetics, the study of control and communication in animals and machines. His work on feedback, noise and prediction influenced engineering, computing and artificial intelligence, and he warned early about the social effects of automation.

When did Norbert Wiener die?

Norbert Wiener died on 18 March 1964 at the age of 69.

Where is Norbert Wiener from?

Norbert Wiener was born in Columbia, Missouri, United States.

What is Norbert Wiener known for?

Norbert Wiener is best known for Cybernetics; Wiener process; filtering theory; ethics of automation.

What awards has Norbert Wiener received?

Notable honours include Bôcher Memorial Prize (1933), National Medal of Science (1963), National Book Award (1965).

References

  1. Norbert Wiener — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  2. Norbert Wiener — Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  3. Norbert Wiener — Goodreads author page. Goodreads. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  4. Norbert Wiener (Q178577) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.

Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Norbert Wiener”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more

External links

Wikipedia
Filed under CyberneticsMIT MathematicianPhilosopherProfessor

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Cite this page

“Norbert Wiener.” TrackFame, last updated 4 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/norbert-wiener

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