The scientific community was rocked earlier this week in January 24, 2016 with the news of Marvin Minsky's passing. He passed away at the ripe old age of 88 from cerebral hemorrhaging.
Marvin Minsky is a pioneer on the field of artificial intelligence and is one of the co-founders of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AI laboratory. In his lifetime, Minsky has been awarded with several prestigious recognitions including the Turning Award in 1969, the Japan Prize in 1990 and the Benjamin Franklin Medal from the Franklin Institute in 2001.
Since the news of his death broke out, many scientists and civilians have expressed their goodbyes to the science icon. In fact as tribute to Marvin Minsky, WIRED utilized a robot to create an appropriate obituary for the scientist. The "Wordsmith" was developed by Automated Insights and it uses structured data in order to create content.
"Born August 9, 1927 in New York City, New York, to parents Fannie Reiser and Henry Minsky, Marvin Minsky was known for his pioneer contribution to the field of artificial intelligence (AI)" read a part of the computer generated obituary which can be read in full here.
Aside from WIRED's tribute, a few of Minsky's colleagues have chimed in on his passing. Stephen Wolfram, CEO and Founder of Wolfram Research, has since writing a blog post recounting his relationship with Minsky. In the update published two days following MMinsky's death, Wolfram recounted his memories of the esteemed scientists. Wolfram also extended his gratitude for the inspiration and the opportunities Minsky has provided for him.
"I shall miss all those conversations about ideas-both ones I thought made sense and ones I thought didn't. Of course, Marvin was always a great enthusiast of cryonics, so perhaps this isn't the end of the story. But at least for now, farewell, Marvin, and thank you"