Claude Elwood Shannon

Claude Shannon
Born	(1916-04-30)April 30, 1916 Petoskey, Michigan, United States
Died	February 24, 2001(2001-02-24) (aged 84) Medford, Massachusetts, United States
Nationality	American
Fields	Mathematics and electronic engineering
Institutions	Bell Labs MIT Institute for Advanced Study
Alma mater	University of Michigan, MIT
Theses	A symbolic analysis of relay and switching circuits (1940) An Algebra for Theoretical Genetics (1940)
Doctoral advisor	Frank Lauren Hitchcock
Doctoral students	Danny Hillis Ivan Sutherland Bert Sutherland Heinrich Arnold Ernst
Known for	Information theory A Mathematical Theory of Communication A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits Beta distribution Binary code Block cipher Boolean algebra Channel capacity Computer chess Data compression Digital electronics Digital Revolution Digital subscriber line Edge coloring Entropy in information theory Entropy (information theory) Entropy power inequality Error-correcting codes with feedback Evaluation function Financial signal processing Information processing Information-theoretic security Innovation (signal processing) Key size Logic gate Logic synthesis Models of communication n-gram Noisy channel coding theorem Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem One-time pad Product cipher Pulse-code modulation Rate–distortion theory Sampling Shannon–Fano coding Shannon–Hartley law Shannon capacity Shannon entropy Shannon's expansion Shannon index Shannon's Maxim Shannon multigraph Shannon number Shannon security Shannon's source coding theorem Shannon switching game Shannon-Weaver model of communication Stream cipher Switching circuit theory Symbolic dynamics Uncertainty coefficient Units of information Useless machine Wearable computer Whittaker–Shannon interpolation formula
Notable awards	Stuart Ballantine Medal (1955) IEEE Medal of Honor (1966) National Medal of Science (1966) Harvey Prize (1972) Claude E. Shannon Award (1972) Harold Pender Award (1978) John Fritz Medal (1983) Kyoto Prize (1985) National Inventors Hall of Fame (2004)

Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001) was an American mathematician, electrical engineer, and cryptographer known as "the father of information theory".

Shannon is noted for having founded information theory with a landmark paper, A Mathematical Theory of Communication, that he published in 1948. He is perhaps equally well known for founding digital circuit design theory in 1937, when, as a 21-year-old master's degree student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he wrote his thesis demonstrating that electrical applications of Boolean algebra could construct any logical, numerical relationship. Shannon contributed to the field of cryptanalysis for national defense during World War II, including his basic work on codebreaking and secure telecommunications.

Shannon was born in Petoskey, Michigan and grew up in Gaylord, Michigan. His father, Claude, Sr. (1862–1934), a descendant of early settlers of New Jersey, was a self-made businessman, and for a while, a Judge of Probate. Shannon's mother, Mabel Wolf Shannon (1890–1945), was a language teacher, and for a number of years she was the principal of Gaylord High School.

Most of the first 16 years of Shannon's life were spent in Gaylord, where he attended public school, graduating from Gaylord High School in 1932. Shannon showed an inclination towards mechanical and electrical things. His best subjects were science and mathematics, and at home he constructed such devices as models of planes, a radio-controlled model boat and a wireless telegraph system to a friend's house a half-mile away. While growing up, he also worked under Andrew Coltrey as a messenger for the Western Union company.

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