Studien zur Theorie Der Automaten (Studies on the theory of automata )

YEAR: 1956
ITEM: Book
COMPANY: Rogner and Bernhard GmbH & Co.
COUNTRY: Germany
IN OUR COLLECTION: Yes

This publication was part of Claude Shannon's personal library.

This book is from 1974 with edits from Shannon and McCarthy, as well as printed drawings in multiple locations by Dieter Roth. Studien zur Theorie der Automaten is roughly based on an original version made in 1956. The original version includes 285 pages compared to the book revised by Shannon and McCarthy with 452 pages. The 1974 version has more information in the back with an autobiography for every author involved. The auto-biography is the only section in the book created in pink pages and has translation by Franz Kaltenbeck and Peter Weibel only in the Automata Studies of 1974.

This book contains a collection of articles from various authors and their work divided into three main sections: 1. Finite Automata 2. Turning Machines 3. Synthesis of Automata. The book also contains an Appendix and a final section of Biography & Bibliography for each author. It is a who's who of early artificial intelligence work including some of the original founders of AI like Marvin Minsky and Nathaniel Rochester alongside C.E. Shannon and J. McCarthy, who are considered the founders of Artificial Intelligence. The book had a delivery note from the publisher in it stating that this copy was "zur Prufung" (for examination).

The Dartmouth Workshop was a brainstorming workshop designed to discuss computers, natural language processing, abstraction, and creativity to name a few. The summer workshop was hosted at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and organized by John McCarthy in 1955. This meeting was said to be the founding event of Artificial Intelligence as a field. McCarthy went to the Rockefeller foundation and proposed for funding including only 10 participants, but the amount of people that actually showed up during the duration was 47, according to McCarthy. The workshop was said to have gone on for eight weeks from about June 18-Aug 17 when it was originally planned to be six weeks. ¹

1. Solomonoff, R.J., dart56ray622716talk710.pdf, 1956 URL:{http://raysolomonoff.com/dartmouth/boxbdart/dart56ray622716talk710.pdf.

Get Our Newsletter

Sorry, no images have yet been entered. As we get more volunteers/interns we will be adding these images.

Documents

Documents for this item have not yet been scanned or not yet posted. There are a lot of pages...contact us if you have an immediate need. (Although there are not a lot of "immediate needs" for a 70+ year old computer!)

One Of A Kind

This book is unique because it is from the personal library of one of the editors, Dr. Claude Shannon. Dr. Shannon is considered to be the Father of Information Theory and was involved in the earliest research into Artificial Intelligence.

This was likely an examination copy sent to Dr. Shannon before the book was offered to the public.

Our collection currently has several other items from Dr. Shannon's personal library.

If you know the location of any other of these items, please let us know by contacting us at Director@TheComputerChurch.com .

OUR DEFINITIONS OF RARITY

One of a Kind: Only known existing item.
Exceedingly Rare: Only 2 to 10 known to exist.
Very Rare: Only 11 to 25 are known to exist.
Rare: Only 26 to 50 are known to exist.
Difficult: Difficult to find.
Available:Can be commonly be purchased.
Unknown: We cannot make a determination.

(For comparison: Many people consider the Apple-1 computer to be rare. As of 2025 there are 92 confirmed and probable Apple-1 computers.)

We are still building. This feature will be ready by the end of February 2026.

Volunteers
Thanks to our volunteer Angels

Come join us in building our Museum!
We can always use your help.
Interns
Variety of internships for University, Community College and High Schools students