 Walter <unk> and Warren <unk> analyzed networks of <unk> artificial neurons and showed how they might perform simple logical functions . They were the first to describe what later researchers would call a neural network . One of the students inspired by <unk> and <unk> was a young Marvin Minsky , then a 24 @-@ year @-@ old graduate student . In 1951 ( with Dean Edmonds ) he built the first neural net machine , the <unk> . Minsky was to become one of the most important leaders and <unk> in AI for the next 50 years . 
