Cybernetics Forrester at MIT in the 1950s, is a related field. Cybernetics has been defined in a variety of ways, by a variety of people, from a variety of disciplines. Cybernetician Stuart Umpleby reports some notable definitions: Other notable definitions include: The term "cybernetics" stems from κυβερνήτης ("cybernḗtēs") "steersman, governor, pilot, or rudder". As with the ancient Greek pilot, independence of thought is important in cybernetics. French physicist and mathematician André-Marie Ampère first coined the word "cybernetique" in his 1834 essay "Essai sur la philosophie des sciences" to describe the science of civil government. The term was borrowed by Norbert Wiener,
Leo Wiener the United States alone, with the purpose of creating a vegetarian commune in Belize. Then, after having travelled and worked around the country, he went to Kansas City, Missouri, and started working as a teacher. He was a polyglot, and was reputed to speak thirty languages well. Beginning in 1896, Wiener lectured on Slavic cultures at Harvard University and became the first American professor of Slavic literature. He translated 24 volumes of Leo Tolstoy's works into English. He taught George Rapall Noyes. He was the father of MIT mathematician Norbert Wiener. Leo Wiener Leo Wiener (1862–1939) was an American historian,