Theory
2 milestones in AI history
ResearchTheoretical Foundations
First Mathematical Model of Neural Networks
McCulloch and Pitts published 'A Logical Calculus of Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity,' creating the first mathematical model of an artificial neuron. They showed that simple binary neurons connected in networks could, in principle, compute any function computable by a Turing machine.
Warren McCullochWalter PittsUniversity of Chicago
ResearchExpert Systems Boom
Hopfield Networks: Physics Meets Neural Networks
Physicist John Hopfield showed that a type of recurrent neural network could serve as content-addressable memory, using concepts from statistical physics. The network would converge to stable states that could store and retrieve patterns — connecting neuroscience, physics, and computation.
John HopfieldCaltech