Artifact Details

Title

Patch panel from experimental neural net computer

Catalog Number

X1106.92B

Type

Physical object

Description

This patch panel component came from an early neural network computer at Cornell University, likely the Perceptron or a similar research neural network. This component is three T-section, aluminum attachment rails.

The Perceptron was built and used at Cornell University in the late 1950s/early 1960s. Professor Henry David Block of the Cornell Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Department collaborated with Frank Rosenblatt, a psychologist at the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, on the development of the Perceptron. Based on the McCulloch-Pitts model of an artificial neuron, the Perceptron was the most widely known early neural network. In 1969, symbolic Artificial Intelligence (AI) pioneers Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert criticized neural networks in their book 'Perceptrons', resulting in a slump in neural network research until its reemergence in the 1980s.

Date

ca. 1962

Manufacturer

Cornell University

Place Manufactured

U.S.

Dimensions

1 1/4 x 24 x 1 1/4 in.

Category

Component/other

Credit

Gift of Lester Ludwig

Lot Number

X1106.92