1940s-1950s

• 1943

  • Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts: Published "A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity." This paper proposed the first mathematical model of a neural network.

• 1949

  • Donald Hebb: Published "The Organization of Behavior," a groundbreaking work introducing key concepts about how neurons might work together in brain learning processes, known as Hebbian learning.

• 1950

  • Alan Turing: Published "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," where he discussed conditions for considering a machine to be intelligent and proposed the Turing Test as a criterion of intelligence.

• 1951

  • Marvin Minsky and Dean Edmonds: Built the first neural network computer, SNARC, the Stochastic Neural Analog Reinforcement Calculator, which used 3000 vacuum tubes and a network of artificial neurons.

• 1952-1953

  • Arthur Samuel: Began work on one of the first computer programs that could learn from its own experience, a checker-playing program.

• 1955

  • Allen Newell and Herbert A. Simon: Developed the "Logic Theorist," considered by many to be the first AI program. The program, funded by Research and Development (RAND) Corporation, was capable of solving logic problems.

• 1956

  • Dartmouth Conference: John McCarthy organized this conference, which is considered the birth of AI as an independent field. McCarthy, along with Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon, wrote the original proposal for the conference, coining the term "Artificial Intelligence."

• Late 1950s

  • Development of Early Programming Languages: AI research led to the development of new programming languages, including LISP by John McCarthy, which became crucial for future AI development.

This period set the groundwork for future advances in AI, establishing key concepts, technologies, and methodologies that would shape the field for decades to come.