Voting Station

Norbert Wiener

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Mathematician

The Resume

    (November 26, 1894-March 18, 1964)
    Born in Columbia, Missouri
    Professor of mathematics at MIT
    Founder of the field of cybernetics (the study of the structure of regulatory systems)
    Wrote the books 'Cybernetics' (1948), 'The Human Use of Human Beings' (1950), 'Ex-Prodigy: My Childhood and Youth' (1953), 'I Am A Mathematician' (1956) and 'God & Golem, Inc.' (1964)

Why he might be annoying:

    'Norbert Wiener' may hold the record for 'name most likely to get you beaten up on the playground.'
    He was a child prodigy.
    He was a manic-depressive.
    He was Jewish and his wife was an outspoken Nazi supporter, producing perhaps the most awkward marriage in history.
    He was a famously bad lecturer, usually spending the entire class facing the blackboard and never looking at his audience.
    He was incredibly absent-minded.
    After a conference at Yale, he forgot that he had driven, so he took the bus home. Discovering the next morning that his car was not in his garage, he reported it stolen to the police.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He graduated with a PhD from Harvard at age 18.
    'Cybernetics' was described as having launched the information age.
    In an Atlantic Monthly article, 'A Scientist Rebels,' he encouraged his fellow scientists to consider the ethical implications of their work.
    He advised the government of India on how to use automation to improve standards of living.
    His daughter always denied the anecdote that he failed to recognize her and asked her for directions to the new house the family had moved to.
    His ideas on information theory influenced Watson and Crick, Margaret Mead and Marshall McLuhan.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 23 Votes: 13.04% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 12 Votes: 41.67% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 22 Votes: 31.82% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 7 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 25 Votes: 52.00% Annoying