Norbert Wiener (was Re: Computer Poems & Anecdotes)
Carl Johnson - Sun EHQ - IR
Cheers,
Carl.
Phil Gustafson
>Ok, I'll bite, who/what/when is Norbert Wiener?
All the following is from the top of my head, and may well be wrong:
Norbert Wiener (d. c. 1964) was a child prodigy. He took his Ph. D.
from Tufts at the tender age of 18; his three degrees were in different
disciplines.
Norbert Wiener invented the term "cybernetics".
Norbert Wiener spent his later life as a mathematics professor at MIT.
He was famous for both his genius and his eccentricity; he was the classic
absent-minded professor. Two legends:
1. He drove to Washington, D.C. for some reason, forgot his car, and took
the train back to Boston.
2. "Professor Wiener, I couldn't figure out problem four."
"Um. Problem four. Simple. (Writes answer on board)"
"(Student struggles for tactful response) Er, professor, isn't
there another approach to the problem?"
"Hm. Why, yes, you're right! (Writes same answer)"
--
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Ben Gamble
|Norbert Wiener spent his later life as a mathematics professor at MIT.
|He was famous for both his genius and his eccentricity; he was the classic
|absent-minded professor. Two legends:
Here's the one I always heard about him (I think I got this from
Raymond Smullyan; probably apocryphal, in any case).
3. Wieners are due to move. A month before Moving Day, Mrs. Wiener
starts a reminder countdown: "Honey, remember, in thirty days,
we're moving, and you'll have to take the B bus home from work
instead of the A bus." On Moving Day, he is duly reminded to take
the B bus home instead of the A bus. Naturally, he forgets, but
upon arriving at his vacated house, remembers that he moved, goes
back to work and takes the B bus to his new street. By the time
he arrives, it's dusk, and he enlists the aid of a young girl on
the street to find his new house.
"Excuse me, little girl, do you know where the Wieners live?"
Young girl rolls eyes. "Come on, daddy, I'll take you home."
--
Ben Gamble
gam...@owlnet.rice.edu
Oh ye who go about saying unto each other: "Hello sailor":
Dost thou know the magnitude of thy sin before the gods?
Kok Chen
One day, a bunch of colleagues were going out to lunch. They
encountered Wiener when they were on the way out of the building.
So, they asked Wiener if he would like to have lunch with them.
Wiener asked which direction he was entering the building from.
When told the answer, he replied "Oh, I must have already eaten,
then, since that is the street to the restaurant."
Having spent some years teaching in China, Wiener loves to
order food in Chinese restaurants using what he thinks is Chinese.
The waiters ended up asking the other people at the table what
it is that Wiener has ordered. This, I think I read in someone's
autobiography when he mentioned Wiener.
Told by Benjamin J. Leon, who was a student at M.I.T. in the
days of Wiener: Now and then, when they were in the classroom,
they would hear loud crashing noises coming from the parking lot.
After a few times, a new student would learn to ignore it, since
it usually is Professor Wiener trying to park his car.
(John Von Neumann [patron saint of Consultants] is purported
to be equally reckless, rumour has it he totaled an average
of one car per year.)
I think this one came from B. J. Leon too: Wiener likes to
read while walking. So, to make his way around, he would place
one of his fingers on one wall and use that as his guide. Well,
now and then, Wiener would pop into someone's office if they had
their door opened. Wiener would follow an opened door, without
looking, right into someone's office.
Now, what I don't understand is, with Wiener's forgetfulness,
how the heck did he manage to write that many _auto_biograhies?
("I am A Mathematician," "Child Prodigy," and, I think one more
about his later life.) It is more fun to read what _someone else_
has written about Wiener, though!
Ask any EE who has gone to school during the '60s and you would
hear a lot of Wiener jokes. I think it is because many of the
EE Profs in that era attended M.I.T. when Wiener was still alive.
These Profs then helped spread Wiener lore all over the country
at various universities.
Regards,
Kok Chen, AA6TY kc...@apple.com
Apple Computer, Inc.
Richard Harter
| In article <mumble> ph...@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Phil Gustafson) writes:
| |Norbert Wiener spent his later life as a mathematics professor at MIT.
| |He was famous for both his genius and his eccentricity; he was the classic
| |absent-minded professor. Two legends:
| Here's the one I always heard about him (I think I got this from
| Raymond Smullyan; probably apocryphal, in any case).
| 3. Wieners are due to move. A month before Moving Day, Mrs. Wiener
| starts a reminder countdown: "Honey, remember, in thirty days,
| we're moving, and you'll have to take the B bus home from work
| instead of the A bus." On Moving Day, he is duly reminded to take
| the B bus home instead of the A bus. Naturally, he forgets, but
| upon arriving at his vacated house, remembers that he moved, goes
| back to work and takes the B bus to his new street. By the time
| he arrives, it's dusk, and he enlists the aid of a young girl on
| the street to find his new house.
| "Excuse me, little girl, do you know where the Wieners live?"
| Young girl rolls eyes. "Come on, daddy, I'll take you home."
It's a good story and it actually did happen when the Wiener's moved
from Cambridge to Newton. However Norbert did recognize his daughter.
When I asked Peggy (the daughter in question) as to the truth of the
story she said "Father always knew his own children"...
--
Richard Harter: SMDS Inc. Net address: uunet!smds!rh Phone: 508-369-7398
US Mail: SMDS Inc., PO Box 555, Concord MA 01742. Fax: 508-369-8272
In the fields of Hell where the grass grows high
Are the graves of dreams allowed to die.
Rick Kelly
>In article <k9t8u0INNs2b@cronkite> ca...@mugwump.UK.Sun.COM writes:
>>Ok, I'll bite, who/what/when is Norbert Wiener?
>All the following is from the top of my head, and may well be wrong:
>Norbert Wiener (d. c. 1964) was a child prodigy. He took his Ph. D.
>from Tufts at the tender age of 18; his three degrees were in different
>disciplines.
>Norbert Wiener invented the term "cybernetics".
>Norbert Wiener spent his later life as a mathematics professor at MIT.
>He was famous for both his genius and his eccentricity; he was the classic
>absent-minded professor. Two legends:
>1. He drove to Washington, D.C. for some reason, forgot his car, and took
> the train back to Boston.
>2. "Professor Wiener, I couldn't figure out problem four."
> "Um. Problem four. Simple. (Writes answer on board)"
> "(Student struggles for tactful response) Er, professor, isn't
> there another approach to the problem?"
> "Hm. Why, yes, you're right! (Writes same answer)"
My father had him as a professor at MIT. I will have to ask him if he has
any stories.
Rick Kelly r...@rmkhome.UUCP frog!rmkhome!rmk r...@frog.UUCP