Claude Elwood Shannon

Claude Elwood Shannon (1916-2001), American applied mathematician and electrical engineer, noted for his development of the theory of communication now known as information theory. Born in Gaylord, Michigan, Shannon attended the University of Michigan and in 1940 obtained his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he became a faculty member in 1956 after working at Bell Telephone Laboratories. In 1948 Shannon published “A Mathematical Theory of Communication,” an article in which he presented his initial concept for a unifying theory of the transmitting and processing of information. Information in this context includes all forms of transmitted messages, including those sent along the nerve networks of living organisms; information theory is now important in many fields.