|
|
Norbert Wiener (1894-1964) |
|
| A principal, world-class genius of the Twentieth Century, Institute Professor Emeritus Norbert Wiener was a quirky and beloved presence on the MIT campus. I knew enough about him that I’d have maimed for the privilege of enrolling in a course he taught, but they were all ’way too stratospheric for one with my undergraduate qualifications. |
Image courtesy of the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT.
|
| Which circumstance did not entirely deprive me of the opportunity of some contact with the great man. For one of his signature oddities was his habit of wandering around the campus (and elsewhere, especially as his eyesight failed) in his famous Wienerwegs, and sitting down for impromptu discussions of whatever was on his encyclopedic mind, with whoever happened to be around, and with a marked preference for undergraduates. |
|
I’m reasonably certain he never knew my name, nor probably ever saw my face clearly. Even the time our paths crossed in the crowded “Infinite Corridor,”
when he grabbed my elbow (with his right hand, the hand without the cigar) and engaged me in a brief colloquy whose topic, fetched out of the blue, I confess I’ve forgotten. As I gathered my composure, he inquired: “By the way…did you notice which way I was going?’ I had, and so informed him. “Oh good: then
I’ve eaten.”
After that startling interlude, I was feeling pretty good about the distinction the good professor had thus conferred upon me. Until I started telling other folks about it and encountered at least a dozen others who said they’d been similarly favored. Seems somebody had told Norbert (as we all referred to him, with the brashness of children) this story about himself, and he was so amused by it that he took to reenacting it with some frequency, for the edification of random passers-by. Having read since those days a couple of biographies of Professor Wiener, I do find myself wishing I’d been aware then, in his final years, of the disheartening burdens life had laid on him. Maybe it’s just as well, though. It’s hard to imagine how I could have made them any lighter. But I’d have wanted to. |
|
Back a Page (Grades & Priorities) |
Such a Life Contents |
Page Indexes: |
Chapter 2 (1946-58) |
Chapter 3 (1958-72) |
MIT (1958-61) |
Mission (1961-64) |
Next Page (Cambridge Branch) |
| Welcome | Stories | Sections | Such a Life | People | Places | Site Search | Do You Know? |
| Updated Aug 2014 | [137.htm] | Page 31-060 |