Wiener

Wiener, Norbert, 1894-1964, American mathematician, educator, and founder of the field of cybernetics, b. Columbia, Mo., grad. Tufts College, 1909, Ph.D. Harvard, 1913. In 1920 he joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he became (1932) professor of mathematics. He made significant contributions to a number of areas of mathematics including harmonic analysis and Fourier transforms, but is best known for his theory of cybernetics, the comparative study of control and communication in humans and machines. He also made significant contributions to the development of computers and calculators. Wiener recounted his youth and training in the autobiographical Ex-Prodigy (1953). He described his mature years and scientific career in I Am a Mathematician (1956). His other writings include The Human Use of Human Beings (1950), Nonlinear Problems in Random Theory (1958), and Cybernetics (1948, rev. ed. 1961).

(born Nov. 26, 1894, Columbia, Mo., U.S.—died March 18, 1964, Stockholm, Swed.) U.S. mathematician. He earned a Ph.D. from Harvard at 18. He joined the faculty of MIT in 1919. His work on generalized harmonic analysis and Tauberian theorems (which deduce the convergence of an infinite series) won the American Mathematical Society's Bôcher Prize in 1933. The origin of cybernetics as an independent science is generally dated from the 1948 publication of his Cybernetics. He made contributions to such areas as stochastic processes, quantum theory, and, during World War II, gunfire control. Crater Wiener on the Moon is named for him.

Learn more about Wiener, Norbert with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Nov. 26, 1894, Columbia, Mo., U.S.—died March 18, 1964, Stockholm, Swed.) U.S. mathematician. He earned a Ph.D. from Harvard at 18. He joined the faculty of MIT in 1919. His work on generalized harmonic analysis and Tauberian theorems (which deduce the convergence of an infinite series) won the American Mathematical Society's Bôcher Prize in 1933. The origin of cybernetics as an independent science is generally dated from the 1948 publication of his Cybernetics. He made contributions to such areas as stochastic processes, quantum theory, and, during World War II, gunfire control. Crater Wiener on the Moon is named for him.

Learn more about Wiener, Norbert with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Wiener is German for Viennese, but may also refer to:

• A hot dog, from German "Wiener Würstchen", meaning "Viennese small sausage"
• A slang term for penis

Wiener is the surname of:

• Alexander S. Wiener (1907-76), leader in the fields of forensic medicine, serology, and immunogenetics
• Alfred Wiener, German Jewish campaigner against Nazism and anti-semitism
• Wiener Library, London institute for the study of the Holocaust
• Great Wiener, The, character in the tale of the Ultimate Wiener, by author Eric Sweet
• Hugo Wiener (1904-93), Austrian Jewish composer, singer, pianist, entertainer, and author
• Jacques Wiener (1815-99), Belgian Jewish-Flemish engraver
• Jean Wiener (born 1896), French pianist, composer
• Martin Wiener, U.S. political historian
• Michael J. Wiener Canadian cryptologist
• Norbert Wiener, American mathematician
• Wiener process, a mathematical model related to Brownian motion
• Wiener equation
• Wiener filter
• Paley–Wiener theorem
• Wiener–Khinchin theorem
• Shannon index, sometimes incorrectly referred to as "Shannon–Wiener index"
• Norbert Wiener Prizes:
• Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics
• Norbert Wiener Award for Social and Professional Responsibility
• Wiener (crater), a crater on the far side of the Moon
• Robert Wiener, CNN senior producer in Baghdad 1990-91 during the Gulf War
• Rosalind Wiener Wyman, Los Angeles politician

See also

• Weiner