His Emeritus Professor MIT, Marvin Minsky, who led the research on the principles of robotics and artificial intelligence, won the prize BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge in the category of information and communication technology.
The award, from the philanthropic arm of Spanish banking giant BBVA, honored 86-year-old Minsky's contributions to science. During the duration During his long career, he was a lecturer and researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he founded the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and helped launch the MIT Media Lab.
The prize was accompanied by a cash prize of 540.000 dollars.
Minsky wrote some of the first and most powerful studies on artificial intelligence and robotics that helped give birth to the field. He even advised director Stanley Kubrick to create "2001: A Space Odyssey"
Today, at 86, Minsky continues to teach a course in artificial intelligence at MIT. He learned about her price that happened to him Monday night when the foundation called him at his home in Brookline.
"I don't know what they think I was doing," Minsky said. "I've made theories about how the mind works and if I'm lucky enough, some students might be making a career out of it."
Many of them have already done so. His former students were Ray Kurzweil, the writer and futurist named 2012's Engineering Director at Google, and many others who have made a successful career in academia and industry.
Ο Marvin Minskyέπαιξε επίσης καθοριστικό ρόλο στην MIT Media Lab, ένα τμήμα πολύ γνωστό για το ότι είναι πολύ πιο μπροστά από τις σημερινές τάσεις της τεχνολογίας. “Ο Marvin έχει μια ταπεινότητα που έρχεται από το σωστό, το γνωρίζει, και δεν χρειάζεται να αποδείξει τίποτα σε κανέναν”, δήλωσε ο Nicholas Negroponte, συνιδρυτής του εργαστηρίου, στην Boston Globe. "He's always patient with me, even when I've said and done some really stupid things."
Marvin Minsky said he has not decided what to do with the cash prize. He plans to travel to Spain at the end of the year to receive the prize, along with the winners in seven other categories.
The BBVA Awards launched 2008 and honor achievements in the arts, science and technology.
