The first convnet that is similar to what we use today was described in 1989 [1], and immediately became the best method to do a handwritten digit recognition.

The first convnet that is similar to what we use today was described in 1989 [1], and immediately became the best method to do a handwritten digit recognition. [1] http://yann.lecun.com/exdb/publis/pdf/lecun-89e.pdf http://yann.lecun.com/exdb/publis/pdf/lecun-89e.pdf