ROSS ASHBY - The Cybernetic Brain - page 91

4
R O S S A S H B Y
P S Y C H I A T R Y, S Y N T H E T I C B R A I N S ,
A N D C Y B E R N E T I C S
Having decided (Heaven forgive me, but it is my conviction) to fol-
low in darwin's footsteps, i bougHt His autobiograpHy to get some
Hints on How to do it.
Ross Ashby, journal entry, 29 june 1945 (asHby 1951-57, p. 1956)
William Ross Ashby (fig. 4.1), always known as Ross, was born in London on
6 September 1903. 1 After failing the entrance exam for the City of London
School, he finished his schooling at the Edinburgh Academy between 1917
and 1921 and then graduated from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, with
a BA in zoology in 1924. He was an unhappy child, incapable of living up to
the expectations of a demanding father, and this unhappiness remained with
him for many years. 2 Ashby's father wanted him to pursue a career in either
medicine or the law and, opting for the former, on leaving Cambridge Ashby
trained at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, receiving the M.B. and B.Ch. degrees
in 1928 (qualifying him to practice as a doctor) and the M.D. degree in 1935,
both from Cambridge. In 1931 he was awarded a diploma in psychological
medicine by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. From 1930 to
1936 he was employed by London County Council as a clinical psychiatrist
at Leavesden Mental Hospital in Hertfordshire. In 1931 Ashby married Elsie
Maud Thorne—known to her intimates as Rosebud; Mrs. Ashby to others;
born in 1908; employed at that point in the Millinery Department at Liberty's