holsz@cadence.com (Wlodzimierz Holsztynski) (04/07/90)
In article <3129@castle.ed.ac.uk> nbw@castle.ed.ac.uk (N Wilding) writes: >I'm trying to find out the date and reference for von-Neumann's first >mention of the CA (or "self-reproducing automata" as I believe he called >it). >Can anyone help me? >Please e-mail responses direct to me. Thanks > > Nigel Wilding. ---------------------- It was Von Neumann's idea to construct a self reproducing robot. He meant to CONSTRUCT, like engineers do, out of some components. This turned out to be too difficult. Then it was Stanislaw Ulam who brought the idea of the cellular automata in general, and of the self-reproducing ones in particular. Then it was Von Neumann's turn again to put ingenuity and hard work into his actuall CA construction. I can't give a proper reference off hand. I can't (quickly) find the early history of CA's in "Essays on Cellular Automata" edited by A.W.Burks. But people in Los Alamos or Boulder (Colorado), where Ulam had spent years, might know. But perhaps Von Neumann's own account should be about the best reference. -- Wlodek