Marvin Minsky

Marvin Lee Minsky (August 9, 1927 – January 24, 2016) was an American computer scientist and cognitive scientist recognized as a founder of artificial intelligence. He constructed the SNARC in 1951, the first machine learning device modeled on neural networks, using vacuum tubes to simulate stochastic reinforcement learning for tasks like maze navigation. After earning a BA in mathematics from Harvard University in 1950 and a PhD from Princeton University in 1954, Minsky joined MIT faculty in 1958 and co-founded its Artificial Intelligence Project—the precursor to the AI Laboratory—in 1959 with John McCarthy, establishing computational approaches to modeling human cognition.

Marvin Lee Minsky was born on August 9, 1927, in New York City to a Jewish family of secular inclinations. His father, Henry Minsky, served as chief of ophthalmology at Mount Sinai Hospital and maintained an extensive library on scientific topics, while his mother, Fannie Reiser Minsky, engaged in social activism and Zionist causes. The home environment actively promoted interests in science and medicine, providing young Minsky with early access to diverse readings, including psychological works by Sigmund Freud.