W. Ross Ashby vs. Bernhard Riemann
Side-by-side comparison of two thinkers
W. Ross Ashby
1903 – 1972
William Ross Ashby was an English psychiatrist and a pioneer in cybernetics, the study of the science of communications and automatic control systems in both machines and living things. His first name was not used: he was known as Ross Ashby.
"The most basic facts in biology are that this earth is now two thousand million years old, and that the biologist studies mostly that which exists today."
Bernhard Riemann
1826 – 1866
Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann was a German mathematician who made profound contributions to analysis, number theory, and differential geometry. In the field of real analysis, he is mostly known for the first rigorous formulation of the integral, the Riemann integral, and his work on Fourier series. His contributions to complex analysis include most notably the introduction of Riemann surfaces, breaking new ground in a natural, geometric treatment of complex analysis.
"Thesis. Finite, Representable. Antithesis. Infinite, System of Notions lying at the limit of the representable."
Connections
Both wrote about: