Claude E. Shannon

1916-2001

Life

Shannon was interested in boolean algebra & switching circuits, communication theory, mathematical cryptography, and computing machines. He worked at: MIT, assistant electrical engineer & mathematician 1936-39; National Defense Research Committee, research mathematician 1940-41; Bell Telephone Labs, research mathematician 1941-57; MIT: Donner professor of science 1958-80; Emeritus Donner professor of science 1980-?.

He has been called "the Father of information theory" (Lilley-Trice). His theory "considered the transmission of information as a statistical phenomenon." It gave communications engineers a way to determine the capacity of a communication channel. His theory is not "concerned with the content of information or the message itself" and, therefore, some feel should not be called information theory (Farkas-Conn). 

See additional biographical information and an assessment of his influence at: http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/what/shannonday/work.html

Also, see a detailed page on him in Wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Shannon

Employment

• Bell Labs
• MIT

Awards

• 1940 Noble Award
• 1949 Morris Liebmann Mem. Award
• 1955 Stuart Balletine Medal
• 1958 Vanuxem Lectr (Princeton)
• 1962 Steinmetz Lectr (Univ. Schenectady)
• 1966 Medal of Honor (IEEE) 1966 National Medal of Science

Papers

Location #1: MIT Libraries; details about the collection not available.