On the Work of the Institute of Control Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the Field of Pattern Recognition Theory and Applications in the 20th Century

Brief historical background on the establishment and activities of the Institute of Control Sciences (IPU RAS). The paper presents key findings of the Institute (obtained mainly in the 20th century) in the field of pattern recognition and of related analysis of complex data. It focuses on four areas of research including (a) the method of potential functions, (b) the theory of learning and self-learning systems, (c) the generalized portrait method and recovery of dependences based on empirical data, and (d) automatic classification methods and expert classification analysis. Relations between these areas are studied. The pioneers in the field are named (M.A. Aizerman, E.M. Braverman, L.I. Rozonoer, Ya.Z. Tsypkin, V.N. Vapnik, A.Ya. Chervonenkis, I.B. Muchnik, and A.A. Dorofeyuk among others) and brief biographical notes on the life and scientific work of these scientists are presented. The follow-ups of the results thus obtained are shown. The bibliography of publications by the Institute’s researchers in leading journals of Russia on pattern recognition problems and related complex data analysis tasks is provided.