Claim · 1960-04 · publication · Stated in source · Supported

McCarthy (1960) states that a programming system called LISP had been developed for the IBM 704 computer by the Artificial Intelligence group at MIT.

One recorded claim. The claim panel gives its qualification, the source passages with their place in each source, and how it was checked.

What it connects

Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and Their Computation by Machine, Part I → states provision → LISP developed for the IBM 704 by the Artificial Intelligence group at MIT

Where it appears

No collection page holds this claim. It is listed with its records in the explorer.

Claim and evidence

Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and Their Computation by Machine, Part Istates provision ↓LISP developed for the IBM 704 by the Artificial Intelligence group at MIT

Machine-checked, not reviewed by an editorStated in sourceSupported

Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source

Provision: Statement · provision ID tl-mccarthy-1960-lisp
Date: 1960-04 · publication Records dated 1960 →

Scope and limitsThe author's statement in the paper; it does not date the start of LISP's development. The copy read is a later reproduction typeset from the April 1960 article with minor notational changes, as its footnote states, not a facsimile of the journal (cross-family check).

The evidence 01

primary sourceSupports the claim

Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and Their Computation by Machine, Part I

Author's site (www-formal.stanford.edu) · 1960-04

Cite the original source

Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.

Source excerpt

“A programming system called LISP (for LISt Processor) has been developed for the IBM 704 computer by the Artificial Intelligence group at M.I.T.”

Location in source PDF p. 1, section 1, Introduction

How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher

Machine-checked · 2026-10-31

Source details and check notes

Authors: John McCarthy
Version: Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-29 (SHA-256 3d981849e59505eff3f14397a177b409f5d978d43d114bdd67c956e74320fc92). LaTeX copy on the author's site, 'Copied with minor notational changes from CACM, April 1960'
Canonical address: Open the canonical source ↗
Accessed: 2026-10-29
Language: English (en)
Attribution: John McCarthy, “Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and Their Computation by Machine, Part I”, 1960-04.
Reuse: No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution.
Check notes: Candidate pack passage, Kinds of AI and technical history (research/technical-history). The quotation (23 words) matched the text retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-29. Matching ignored differences of whitespace, case, quotation marks, dashes, PDF line-break hyphens and Unicode compatibility forms, so the source’s typography can differ. A cross-family machine check (31 October 2026, item 115) re-read the record’s sources and found that they support what the record states. No human editorial review.

Status and meaning

Editorial status. Not reviewed by an editor. An exploratory record that no editor has accepted. This status does not say whether a person has read any linked passage. Each evidence record above shows how it was checked.

Relation. An exact framework edition, or another document with an exact expression, states one provision: a capability threshold or risk level and its trigger, a required safeguard or action, a decision authority (who decides, recommends, can overrule or is informed), a stated exception, or another statement of its content, such as a licence term or a prospectus statement. The passage records what the document says, not implementation, compliance or effectiveness. Provisions with the same key align across editions of one family.

Date. The development is reported as complete by April 1960; no earlier date is given in the passage.

Record ID th-tl-mccarthy-1960-lisp