weiner was born in new york city in 1931. he received a bss degree from the city college of new york in 1951 and ma and phd degrees from princeton university in 1953 and 1955. he taught at princeton and the university of chicago before coming to mit as an associate professor in 1961, where he worked for 38 years before retiring in april 1999. he was promoted to the rank of full professor in 1965 and served as head of the department of political science from 1974-77. he was named the ford international professor of political science at mit in 1977. he was also director of mit's center for international studies from 1987–92, and acting director in 1995-96.