Claude Elwood Shannon | Biography

Claude Elwood Shannon is commonly referred to as the father of information sciences.

Claude Shannon was born in Petoskey, Michigan, in 1916. His father was a businessman and his mother a language teacher at the local high school. Shannon went to Gaylord High School (where his mother eventually became principal) until he was 16. From there he went to the University of Michigan where he was awarded a degree in mathematics and electrical engineering in 1936. This interest in mathematics and electronics had developed during his early school years. Shannon had constructed many radio-controlled toys and even made a telegraph system that connected to a friend's house some half a mile distant (his system utilized a barbed-wire fence that ran between the two properties). To fund these projects Shannon took to repairing radios in Gaylord. Having obtained his degree from the University of Michigan Shannon took a position as a research assistant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Electrical Engineering. Shannon worked part-time for the department while undertaking graduate studies, and in 1937 he was awarded an M.S. in electrical engineering. He then received a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1940 after transferring to the mathematics department in 1938. The awarding of Shannon's doctoral degree was at times in doubt due to his inability to meet the language requirements of MIT. Eventually, with the aid of a personal tutor, Shannon was able to pass muster in both French and German. Shannon's master's thesis was in Boolean algebra (looking at the analysis and synthesis of switching and computer circuits), while his doctoral thesis (An Algebra for Theoretical Genetics) was in statistical genetics. While at MIT Shannon worked with Vannevar Bush on the differential analyzer (at the time one of the most advanced calculating machines known). In 1941 Shannon published a paper on the mathematical theory of this machine. A brief period of work at Princeton followed, and it was there that Shannon started to devote his research interests to information theory and communications systems. At the end of 1941 Shannon joined AT&T Bell Telephones as a research mathematician (he had also spent the summers of 1937 and 1938 working there). With the publication of "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" in the Bell System Technical Journal in 1948, Shannon founded the subject of information theory. In the paper Shannon proposed a linear schematic model of a communications system--he thought that information could be sent as a series of off and on signals rather than as an electromagnetically controlled wave, a digital system of transmitting data. This paper also introduced the idea of a "bit" in computing and is widely regarded as Shannon's most important contribution to computing science. The publication in 1949 of Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems set cryptography on a more rational basis than had previously been the case. In 1950 Shannon wrote one of the very first papers showing how a computer could be programmed to play the game of chess, and many chess programs still operate on the basic principles outlined in this paper. Also in 1950 Shannon developed Theseus--a maze-solving mouse that was actually one of the earliest attempts at artificial intelligence: it had the ability to learn from trial and error. In 1956 Shannon was made a visiting professor of communication science and mathematics at MIT. In 1957 he was appointed to the faculty, although he remained on as a consultant for AT&T. In 1958 Shannon was made Donner Professor of Science at MIT. Throughout all of these changes Shannon continued his work in communication theory. Specifically he studied systems with feedback mechanisms to try to increase their reliability. Through his work Shannon defined many of the limits on communication rates in telephone channels and optical and wireless communications. In 1972 Shannon left his position at AT&T. After this period he became an emeritus professor at MIT and continued his own pursuits, building many more machine toys and attending a number of conferences as the honored guest and speaker.

Shannon married Mary Elizabeth Moore (who also worked at Bell) in 1949 and together they had three sons and one daughter. While working Shannon was largely considered a loner, but he was also willing to help other people with their problems if they approached him. One of his great loves in life was unicycling and he frequently rode to work on his unicycle (often juggling three balls at the same time). Shannon's other hobbies tended towards the science and computing sphere. He developed a pocket calculator that carries out all computations in roman numerals, an automatic juggling machine, and an army of "turtles"--small independent machines that roam around the floor. Throughout his life he received many awards including the Alfred Nobel American Institute of Engineers Award (1940) for his master's thesis, the Morris Liebmann Memorial Award of the Institute of Radio Engineers (1949), the National Medal of Science (1966), the IEEE Medal of Honor (1966), the Audio Engineering Gold Medal (1985), as well as honorary degrees from 11 Universities.

Shannon died in Medford, Massachusetts, on February 24, 2001. He suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

Recent Updates

February 11, 2004: It was announced that Shannon and Bernard Oliver will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for their development of "Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), the first high-speed digital transmission system based on coded electronic pulses." PCM, in turn, allowed the development of digital telephone systems and compact disc recording. The induction ceremony will be held on May 1, 2004, in Akron, Ohio. Source: National Inventors Hall of Fame, www.invent.org, April 8, 2004.