Evening star., 1938-09-15
Headline Folk
and What
IheyDo
DR.. Norbert Wiener
Predicts Course of
Confusion.
BY LEMUEL r. PARTON.

ny AkMULL r. FAhTON.
~ r. NORBERT WIENER chal.
lenges Milton. or Pope or
whoever 1t was that observed,
- Chaos umpire sits, and by
decision more embroils the fray" At
last, says this famous savant Of tho
Massachusetts, Institute of Technology,
scientists "can now predict what will
happen IN states Of complete con-
fusion"
They can now put the calculus on
the footsteps Of the most errant
drunks. and call their vaverins accur.
ately in advance, this having been one
OF the M. I. T. experiments. Czecho.
slovakia might be something else again,
but. As Or. Wiener explains the new
outreach Of the calculus, at the Fourth
International Congress for Applied
Mechanics at Cambridge, 1t seems to
clock everything, from q case OF hic-
coughs to Adolf Hitler. just 50 long a.
1t Is pure" chaos and not a mere
adulteration. That ought to let In
most Of Europe. and 1t certainly ought
to qualify DR.. Wiener to write a market
letter.
He read English at the age Of 3 and
Latin at S. When he was 3 he had
romped through arithmetic, algebra
and plain and solid geometry. had
read Latin, German, French and Rus
sian books and was deep in Huxley,
Darwin. Ribot and Haeckel. He en-
tered Tufts College at the age Of II.
He did four years work IL. three, finish
ing In the class Of 1910. He took his
masters degree in 1912 and his doc
tors In 1913, both at Harvard
At the age Of l9 he was an assistant
professor at Harvard, lecturing on
the theory Of knowledge" With him
at Harvard in his postgraduate years
were his fellow prodigies, Adolph
Berle, jr., and the still remembered
Pillie SidH. DR.. Wiener has kept on
steadily gathering laurels in the groves
OF academe; Mr. Berle Is the famous
brain-truster. book writer and monop-
oily prober. Mr.. Sidis has faded out
rathA unhappily, leaving the count
for the child prodigy standing two to
one, as against the common SUPPOSE
ton that it is usually the other way.
DR.. Wiener was born in Columbia,
Mo, the son Of Russian student, also
professor in later years His mother
was a Missouri girl. When young
Norman was IL. his father said he
was lazy-just letting things ooze into
his brain instead Of working for them.
U-ar eh
British sing no songs In the music
halls, about their men. their money
and their ships, as they used TO DO.
They are thoughtful and restrained
and they do not even apostrophizs
their Tiger" Gort, whose name and
fame In other days would have started
the bands playing. But viscount Gort,
chief OF the imperial general staff, Is
their favorite war ace and he Ii
alert and diligent in conferences and
planning sessions as the war tension
grows. Ffty-one years old, he was
raised to his present command In ths
drastic shake-up Of the army last De.
cember, which jettisoned many older
men.
| OcFciclS NOuuQtQ hJ IIle C6Qal 0u
Nord. in the World War, he was picked
up by stretcher- bearers, who started
for the rear In weak whisper. he
commanded them to go the other way.
On stretcher, he Was borne into the
firing line, whispered his commands
and won the battle In this and other
engagements, he earned many decora-
tions. He is mild, shy and hesitant
tiger" regarded as one Of the best
military tacticians in the world. He
comes Of the old Anglo Dutch
| family Of Vereker.