1959年,拉賓和達納·斯科特共同發表了「有限自動機與其判定性問題」(Finite Automata and Their Decision Problems)的論文,提出了非確定自動機的觀點。他們也因此獲得了1976年的圖靈獎,並做「邏輯與程序設計語言」(logic and Programming Language)的演講。圖靈獎的引文是:
^英文為:For their joint paper "Finite Automata and Their Decision Problem," which introduced the idea of nondeterministic machines, which has proved to be an enormously valuable concept. Their (Scott & Rabin) classic paper has been a continuous source of inspiration for subsequent work in this field.ACM Turing Award Citation[永久失效連結]