Norbert Wiener - Cybernetics

Norbert Wiener invented the field of cybernetics and conceptualized the thinking that  computer technology  extends human capabilities.

Norbert Wiener was born on November 26, 1894, and received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Harvard University at the age of 18 for a thesis on mathematical logic.

During World War II, Wiener worked on guided missile technology, and observed  how the feedback principle was being used  when a missile changes its flight in response to its current position and direction. He also noticed that the feedback principle was also a key feature of life forms from the simplest plants to the most complex animals and they  change their actions in response to their environment. Wiener developed this concept into the field of cybernetics, concerning the combination of man and electronics. The book on Cybernetics was published in 1948. 

http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_wiener.htm

http://www.tufts.edu/as/math/wiener.html

http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Wiener_Norbert.html