[Source] http://www.aaai.org/AITopics/bbhist.html
[Author] Bruce G. Buchanan
[Translator] Stone Shi (welovecs)
.
NO PART OF THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE DISTRIBUTED IN ANY MEANS WITHOUT ATTACHING THE TRANSLATOR'S SIGNATURE.
.
Introduction 导言
.
The intellectual roots of AI, and the concept of intelligent machines, may be found in Greek mythology. Intelligent artifacts appear in literature since then, with real (and fraudulent) mechanical devices actually demonstrated to behave with some degree of intelligence. Some of these conceptual achievements are listed below under "Ancient History."
人工智能的思想起源（intellectual roots），及智能机器的概念，最早见于希腊的神话。自古希腊时代起，有关人工智能体的描述便有了文字记载。中世纪前后，一些机械装置已经能够表现出一定的智能。这些思想上的成就，部分被列于"古代史"中。
After modern computers became available, following World War II, it has become possible to create programs that perform difficult intellectual tasks. From these programs, general tools are constructed which have applications in a wide variety of everyday problems. Some of these computational milestones are listed below under "Modern History."
现代计算机诞生后，第二次世界大战爆发。这样的历史背景，使得编写能够完成困难智能任务的程序，成为了可能。人们在编写这些程序的过程中，也构建了一些通用工具性质的程序，后来这些程序广泛应用于解决各个领域的一般问题。这些计算科学的里程碑，部分被列于"近代史"中。
.
Ancient History 古代史
.
Greek myths of Hephaestus and Pygmalion incorporate the idea of intelligent robots. Many other myths in antiquity involve human-like artifacts. Many mechanical toys and models were actually constructed, e.g., by Hero, Daedalus and other real persons.
智能机器人的思想，最早始于希腊神话中的赫菲斯托斯（Hephaestus）和皮格马利翁（Pygmalion）。其他古代神话，也有类人智能体的相关记载。事实上，古希腊人已经能够制造出许多机械玩具和模型，其中杰出的代表有希罗（Hero），代达罗斯（Daedalus）等人。
5th century B.C. 公元前五世纪
Aristotle invented syllogistic logic, the first formal deductive reasoning system.
亚里士多德提出三段论。其三段论是逻辑史上第一个形式演绎推理系统（formal deductive reasoning system）。
13th century 十三世纪
Talking heads were said to have been created, Roger Bacon and Albert the Great reputedly among the owners.
据说，Roger Bacon和Albert the Great等人创造出了可以回答任何问题的Talking Head。
Ramon Llull, Spanish theologian, invented machines for discovering nonmathematical truths through combinatories.
一位名叫Ramon Llull的西班牙神学家发明了一个机器，这个机器可以通过组合一系列的字母或符号，来发现非数学领域的一些事实。
15th century 十五世纪
Invention of printing using moveable type. Gutenberg Bible printed (1456).
Gutenberg发明活字印刷术[1]。古腾堡圣经（Gutenberg Bible）印刷出版。
15th-16th century 十五-十六世纪
Clocks, the first modern measuring machines, were first produced using lathes.
第一个现代测量工具--钟表，通过车床被生产出来。
16th century 十六世纪
Clockmakers extended their craft to creating mechanical animals and other novelties.
钟表制造工艺的发展，使得钟表制造者们可以制造出仿真机械动物，以及其他在当时看来是新奇的玩意。
Rabbi Loew of Prague is said to have invented the Golem, a clay man brought to life (1580).
据说布拉格的犹太学者Loew发明了Golem，一个有生命的假人（1580）。
17th century 十七世纪
Early in the century, Descartes proposed that bodies of animals are nothing more than complex machines. Many other 17th century thinkers offered variations and elaborations of Cartesian mechanism.
十七世纪初，笛卡尔（Descartes）提出这样一种论断： 所有物质的东西，都是为同一机械规律所支配的机器，甚至人体也是如此。其后，许多十七世纪的思想家发展了笛卡尔的机械主义（Cartesian mechanism）思想，并在此基础上提出了不同见解。
Hobbes published The Leviathan, containing a material and combinatorial theory of thinking.
Hobbes出版了《利维坦》（The Leviathan）一书。书中提出了思维的辨证组合论[2]。
Pascal created the first mechanical digital calculating machine (1642).
帕斯卡（Pascal）发明了第一台机械式数字计算器，这台机器可以进行加减运算（1642）。
Leibniz improved Pascal's machine to do multiplication & division (1673) and envisioned a universal calculus of reasoning by which arguments could be decided mechanically.
莱布尼茨（Leibniz）改进了帕斯卡的计算器，使之可以进行乘除运算（1673）。莱布尼茨认为，推理可以归结为一种普遍的演算，而这些演算最终可以被机器完成。
18th century 十八世纪
The 18th century saw a profusion of mechanical toys, including the celebrated mechanical duck of Vaucanson and von Kempelen's phony mechanical chess player, The Turk (1769).
十八世纪是一个盛产机械玩具的世纪。这些机械玩具的代表之作有Vaucanson著名的机械鸭子，以及Kempelen那"所谓智能"的土耳其行棋傀儡（The Turk, 1769）。
19th century 十九世纪
Luddites (led by Ned Ludd) destroyed machinery in England (1811-1816).
以Ned Ludd为首的卢德派成员（Luddites），在1811年到1816年期间制造了骚乱，并捣毁了节省劳动力的纺织机器。
Mary Shelley published the story of Frankenstein's monster (181 
.
Mary Shelley出版了她的小说Frankenstein （1818）。书中的主人公Frankenstein是一名生理学家，他亲手创造了一个怪物, 但结果自己被怪物所毁灭。
George Boole developed a binary algebra representing (some) "laws of thought."
George Boole创立二值代数（binary algebra），用来表示一些逻辑推理规则。
Charles Babbage & Ada Byron (Lady Lovelace) worked on programmable mechanical calculating machines.
Charles Babbage和Ada Byron发明了可编程的机械式计算器（差分机）。
.
20th century - First Half
二十世纪前半叶
.
Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead published Principia Mathematica, which revolutionaized formal logic. Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Rudolf Carnap lead philosophy into logical analysis of knowledge.
罗素（Bertrand Russell）和怀特海德（Alfred North Whitehead）发表三卷本《数学原理》（Principia Mathematica），此书是形式逻辑发展史上的里程碑。此外，罗素同维特根斯坦（Ludwig Wittgenstein）、卡尔纳普（Rudolf Carnap）一起创立了分析哲学（analytic philosophy）。
Karel Capek's play "R.U.R." (Rossum's Universal Robots) opens in London (1923). - First use of the word 'robot' in English.
卡雷尔·恰佩克（Karel Capek）的科学幻想戏剧《罗素姆万能机器人》在伦敦公演（1923）。这是历史上首次在英语中使用'robot '一词。
Warren McCulloch & Walter Pitts publish "A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity" (1943), laying foundations for neural networks.
Warren McCulloch和Walter Pitts发表"A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity"（1943），这篇论文奠定了神经网络的理论基础。
Arturo Rosenblueth, Norbert Wiener & Julian Bigelow coin the term "cybernetics" in a 1943 paper. Wiener's popular book by that name published in 1948.
Arturo Rosenblueth，Norbert Wiener和Julian Bigelow，在他们1943发表的论文中，定义了"控制论"（cybernetics）这一术语。1948年，Wiener出版了一本与此术语同名的畅销书。
Vannevar Bush published As We May Think (Atlantic Monthly, July 1945) a prescient vision of the future in which computers assist humans in many activities.
Vannevar Bush发表了一篇题为" As We May Think "（Atlantic Monthly, July 1945）的文章。在文中他预半夜凉初透言：在不远的将来，计算可以在很多领域协助人们工作。
A.M. Turing published "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" (1950). - Introduction of Turing Test as a way of operationalizing a test of intelligent behavior.
图灵（A.M. Turing）发表《计算机器与智能》（"Computing Machinery and Intelligence" ,1950）。这篇论文通过一个测试机器智能行为的实验，介绍了图灵测试（Turing Test）这一概念。
Claude Shannon published detailed analysis of chess playing as search (1950).
香农（Claude Shannon）于1950年发表了一篇题为"Programming a Computer for Playing Chess "的论文，文中论述了如何实现机器或计算机博弈。
Isaac Asimov published his three laws of robotics (1950).
阿西莫夫（Isaac Asimov）于1950提出"机器人三定律（Three Laws of Robotics）"。
译者注：
[1] 尽管活字印刷术数百年前在中国就已经出现，但并未流行，因而近代的活字印刷术主要来自古腾堡的发明。--维基百科
[2] 这里有些不太明白，不过查到这样一句话，现摘于此：
法莫道不消魂国人的帕斯卡在莱布尼茨之前做出过算术计算器，英国的霍布斯（1588~1679）在他之前提出过思维可计算的观点，法莫道不消魂国人的笛卡儿（1596~1650）提出普遍数学的理念，他们的思想都比莱布尼茨早。
based on 8 reviews. (
