McCarthy as Scientist and Engineer, with Personal Recollections

Abstract

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, there were very few people actually doing AI research—mostly the handful of founders (McCarthy, Minsky, and Selfridge in Boston, Newell and Simon in Pittsburgh) plus their students, and that included me. Everyone knew everyone else, and saw them at the few conference panels that were held. At one of those conferences, I met John. We renewed contact upon his re-arrival at Stanford, and that was to have major consequences for my professional life.