We are saddened by the passing of Prof. Marvin Minsky, this past Sunday, January 24, 2016. Our thoughts are with his family and friends as this time.
In the very beginning of the development of our Center, during the MIT Intelligence Initiative days, we were very fortunate to have Prof. Minsky agree to participate in the MIT 150 Brains, Minds and Machines Symposium's “Golden Age” panel discussion, moderated by Steven Pinker (Harvard), May 2011. Marvin joined Emilio Bizzi (MIT), Sydney Brenner, (Salk Institute for Biological Studies), Noam Chomsky, (MIT), Barbara H. Partee (UMass, Amherst) and Patrick H. Winston (MIT) in a discussion of the original roots of Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, and Linguistics. This panel opened our symposium and was one of the best attended talks of the series.
Here is a link to a video excerpt of Prof. Minsky's talk from the MIT150 BMM: Golden Age panel: https://cbmm.mit.edu/video/mit150-marvin-minsky
Memories of Prof. Minsky have been shared in abundance this week in the press. Here is an abbreviated list of some of the recent press coverage:
Prof. Tomaso Poggio has shared some of his recollections of Marvin Minsky with La Stampa (text is in Italian):
“Minsky, il bambino prodigio che sognava un cervello umano per i robot”
Il ricordo dell’amico Tomaso Poggio, fisico del Mit
by Francesco Rigatelli, La Stampa - TUTTOSCIENZE, Jan. 27, 2016
Link to full article: http://www.lastampa.it/
Prof. Patrick Winston remembers Marvin as a "teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend" on his website:
Pensées: Marvin Minsky
Link to post: http://people.csail.mit.edu/phw/
What Marvin Minsky Still Means for AI
How Marvin Minsky, a pioneer of artificial intelligence who died on Sunday, still influences the field today.
by Will Knight , MIT Tech Review, January 26, 2016
Link to article: http://www.technologyreview.com
“The world has lost one of its greatest minds in science.” R.I.P. Marvin Minsky
by Joel Achenbach, Washington Post, January 26, 2016
Link to article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/