The Ratio Club

The idea of an informal dining club of young physiologists, mathematicians and engineers to discuss issues in cybernetics arose from a Society of Experimental Biology Symposium on Animal Behaviour held in Cambridge in July 1949. The Ratio Club was formed by Bates in August 1949 and the initial membership was W.R. Ashby, H. Barlow, G.D. Dawson, T. Gold, W.E. Hick, D.M. MacKay, T. McLardy, P.A. Merton, J.W.S. Pringle, H.W. Shipton, D.A. Sholl, A.M. Uttley, W.G. Walter and J. Westcott. A.M. Turing joined after the first meeting, followed by P.A. Woodward, W.A.H. Rushton and I.J. Good. At its meetings the Club dined and then listened to an informal presentation on an area of mutual interest by one or more members or invited guests. The meeting then discussed the issues raised in the presentation. Membership was kept to a maximum of fifteen and it was agreed that no one of professorial rank was eligible for membership. The Club met fairly regularly between September 1949 and January 1956 but there then followed an

1949-1985

1 box