N imitate n aspect

1 A feature or a side of something is a(n)...........................

2 To..........................means to copy.

3 The field of............................. studies people and machines' practices and procedures to understand where they differ.

4 If work is...........................it is done by cooperating.

5.........................means by the use of.

6 If you have..........................into something, you have special understanding.

7 To..........................means to choose, perhaps for a position of responsibility.

8 If you..........................something, you make use of a resource.

9 When you.................................to do something, it is a habit you have.

10If something is..........................it is made certain.

Reading

Norbert Wiener

Norbert Wiener, the famous applied mathematician, was born in 1894 in the USA and died in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1964. His father was a professor of Slavonic languages at Harvard. Norbert was a very intelligent child and his father was determined to make him a famous scholar. This is indeed what he became, being awarded a PhD by Harvard at the age of 18. He also studied Philosophy, Logic and Mathematics at Cambridge and Gottingen.

His first important position was that of Instructor of Mathematics at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in 1919, followed by that of Assistant Professor in 1929 and of Professor in 1931. Two years later, in 1933, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (USA), from which he resigned in 1941. In 1940 he started to work on a research project at MIT on anti-aircraft devices, a project which played an important part in his development of the science of cybernetics.

The idea of cybernetics came to Wiener when he began to consider the ways in which machines and human minds work. This led to the development of the idea of cybernetics, which is the study of the ways humans and machines process information, in order to understand their differences. It often refers to machines that imitate human behaviour. The term was coined from the Greek kubernetike which means the art of the steersman (the skill of a captain when controlling the ship). This idea made it possible to turn early computers into machines that imitate human ways of thinking, particularly in terms of control (via negative feedback) and communication (via the transmission of information).

Norbert Wiener was also deeply attracted to mathematical physics. This interest originated in the collaborative work that he did with Max Born in 1926 on quantum mechanics. But Wiener's interests were not limited to logic, mathematics, cybernetics or mathematical physics alone, as he was also familiar with every aspect of philosophy. In fact, he was awarded his doctorate for a study on mathematical logic that was based on his studies in philosophy. In addition to that, in a very different field, he wrote two short stories and a novel. Wiener also published an autobiography in two parts: Ex-Prodigy: My Childhood and Youth and / Am a Mathematician.

Norbert Wiener was an amazing mathematician, who was gifted with philosophical insight. In an age when scientists tended, and still tend, to specialise in their own very specific fields, this man was interested and involved in many different disciplines. Due to this, he was able to draw on many resources in his varied research, thus making him an incredibly successful applied scientist. Wiener was one of the most original and significant contemporary scientists and his reputation was securely established in the new sciences such as cybernetics, theory of information and biophysics.

Pronunciation guide

Cybernetics

Via

E Comprehension

Read the text and choose the correct answer.

1 Norbert Wiener's father

A was awarded a PhD.

B taught intelligent children.

C was a language instructor.

2 Norbert Wiener began to think seriously about cybernetics

A when he was at MIT.

B when he was a science instructor.