Norbert Wiener, born on November 26, 1894, in Columbia, Missouri, to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, is recognized as the founding father of cybernetics in the 1940s. Despite often being overshadowed by figures like Alan Turing and John von Neumann in the history of artificial intelligence (AI), Wiener’s work laid foundational concepts that impacted robotics, control engineering, and multi-agent systems.

Wiener’s father, Leo Wiener, a strict professor of Slavic languages of Lithuanian origin, was said by philosopher Pierre Cassou-Noguès to have "behaved somewhat like Pygmalion and attempted to mould his son in his own image." Demonstrating prodigious talent, Wiener learned to read before age four, graduated high school at 11, earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics at 14, and completed his PhD at Harvard by 18.

After World War II, Wiener developed ideas that Philippe Mathieu, an AI specialist at the University of Lille, noted would "have an impact on many fields related to artificial intelligence such as robotics, control engineering and multi-agent systems." The science behind cybernetics was first laid out in a seminal 1943 article and further detailed in Wiener’s 1948 book, "Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine."

During the Cold War, Wiener was often labeled politically left-wing, with US authorities suspecting Soviet sympathies. He was among the first to warn of the risks of social upheaval linked to the rise of machines and automation.

Wiener’s legacy is increasingly recognized alongside other pioneers of AI, highlighting his critical role in shaping modern technological and societal landscapes.

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