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abstraction, CS’s genius for, 46
Alfred Noble Prize, 48
“Algebra for Theoretical Genetics, An” (Shannon), 53–60
Alice in Many Tongues (Weaver), 85
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll), 85, 234
alleles, 55
All Souls College, Oxford, 259–60
Alzheimer’s disease, 268–71
American Journal of Psychology, 250–51
American Mathematical Monthly, 19
American Mathematical Society, 174
American Philosophical Society, 259
American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T), 65, 66, 205
Anderson, Benedict, 75
Ann Arbor, Mich., 13–14, 34, 293n
Ann Arbor Daily News, 14
anti-aircraft guns, 86–89
Apollonius, 250
Apollo Theater, 110
Apple II computer, 266
Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA), 194, 196
Army Air Service, U.S., 83
Army Signal Corps, 88
artificial intelligence, 76, 266
chess-playing computers and, xv, 211, 212–14
CS on future of, 207–9, 215–16
Theseus as rudimentary example of, 204, 205–7
Ashkelon, Israel, 261
automobiles, 265
“Baby Ford,” 27
Baghdad, 250
Baker, Bill, 226
“Bandwagon, The” (Shannon), 189–92
bandwidth, information and, 127–28, 135–36
Banquet, The (Xenophon), 253
Barbara’s Philippine Journey (Burks), 52
Bardeen, John, 67
Barnard, Chester, 166–67
Baruch, Bernard, 240
Bateson, Gregory, 178
Beauzamy, Bernard, 61
Beiderbecke, Bix, 62
Bell, Alexander Graham, 66, 123, 126, 265
Bell Laboratories, 74, 81, 115, 123, 126, 128, 131, 136, 137, 141, 156, 165, 181, 182, 187, 193, 195, 199–200, 211, 217, 229, 233, 235, 239, 249, 259, 273, 277
Betty Shannon and, 183–84
cryptography work of, 98–102, 103, 105
CS hired by, 90
CS’s continued employment by, 226
CS’s freedom at, 68, 114, 199–200, 225
CS’s friendships at, 111–14
CS’s resignation from, 225–26
CS’s summer fellowship at, 63, 64, 71–72
CS’s summer internship at, 38
CS’s Theseus project and, 204–5
intellectual freedom of, xiii, 66–68, 70, 225
inventions and discoveries of, 67
math group at, 65, 68–71, 86, 199
Turing’s visit to, 103–4, 105, 107–8
World War II and, 86–90, 91, 93–95, 98–101, 103, 105
Bell System Technical Journal, 68, 161, 165, 166, 186
Bell Telephone Company, 178
Bennett, William, 98
Berkeley Heights, N.J., 184
Berlekamp, Elwyn, 261
Berrou, Claude, 325n
bits (binary digits), 236, 309n
choice and, 141
CS’s introduction of, 141
as fundamental unit of information, xiv, 154
redundancy and, 159–60
Blackman, Ralph, 85
Bletchley Park, 93
Bôcher Memorial Prize, 74
Bohr, Niels, 131
Boltzmann, Ludwig, 125
BOMBE, 96
Boole, George, 35–37, 38–39, 40, 42, 130
Boolean algebra, 35–37, 38–39, 40–41, 54, 72, 140
Born, Max, 263
Boston Globe, 248
Botvinnik, Mikhail, 211–12
Boyer, Carl, 172
Boy Scouts, 10–11
Brattain, Walter, 67
Brewer, Brock, 207–8
Brighton, England, xi
British navy, 294n
Brunn, Lottie, 253
Buddhism, 263
Buffon’s Needle, 234
Burke, Colin, 96–97
Burks, Barbara Stoddard, 52–53, 58–59, 60
Bush, Vannevar, 21–24, 27–31, 33–34, 38, 43, 51, 53, 54, 59, 60, 63, 73, 75, 77, 91, 99–100, 166, 177
analog computers of, 28, 29–30
CS’s genius recognized by, 20, 22, 33, 48
as CS’s mentor, xii, 48–49, 58, 64–65, 74, 93
on CS’s personality, 47–48
differential analyzer of, see differential analyzer
electrical grid project of, 24, 28, 30
Eugenics Record Office closed by, 50
NDRC and, 81–82
Profile Tracker of, 21–22, 25, 27–28, 31
specialization disliked by, 49
as tinkerer, 22–23
Byte, 212
Caissac (chess-playing computer), 215, 266
California, University of, at Los Angeles, 243
California Institute of Technology (Caltech), 83
Cambridge, England, 188
Cambridge, Mass., 28, 33, 49, 223, 272
Cambridge University, 25
Carnegie Institution of Washington, 50
Cartier-Bresson, Henri, 207–8
Cavendish Laboratory, 188
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 193, 194, 195
Chamberlain, Owen, 263
Champaign-Urbana, Ill., 167
Chandler, Raymond, 152–53
channel capacity, 157–61
Charles River, 33
chess, 199
computers and, xv, 107, 108, 209, 210–16, 266
Chicago, University of, 131
choice:
information and, 133–34, 138, 141–44
in logical statements, xiii
chromosomes, 54–55
Churchill, Winston, xiii, 67, 97–98, 150
Church of Scientology, 200–201
Civil War, U.S., 6
Clark, A. B., 100
Clarke, Arthur C., 123
Clausius, Rudolf, 125
codebreaking, see cryptography
coin tosses, probability and, 141–42
Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 49, 53
Cold War, 166
Collatz conjecture, 69
Collier’s, 22
COLOSSUS, 96
Columbia, Mo., 175
Columbia University, 178
communications, 16
digital, 113
model for flow of, 138–40
signal vs. noise in, 119–20, 123–24, 126, 127, 179
see also information
communications science, 235–36, 262
communication theory, see information theory
“Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems” (Shannon), 152
Communist Party, 80
Como, Lake, 131
Compton, Karl Taylor, 47
computers, analog, 127
see also differential analyzer
computers, digital:
chess-playing by, xv, 107, 108, 209, 210–16, 266
hand-held, 265–66
insights of CS and Turing as basis of, 43
mutual interest of CS and Turing in, 106–7
computers, wearable, xv, 243–46
Conant, James, 93
Conrad, Joseph, 54
Cook, Gareth, 110
Cook, James, 252
Copernicus, 32
Cornell University, 27, 176, 183
County Kerry, Ireland, 120
Courtyard Nursing Care Center, 271
“Creative Thinking” (Shannon), 217–20
Crick, Francis, 188
cryptography, 310n
Bell Labs work on, 98–101, 105
CS’s childhood interest in, 4, 19
CS’s expertise in, xiii, 95, 101–2, 104, 152, 193–94, 195
letter frequency in, 3–4, 149–51
redundancy in, 151
Turing and, 103–6
U.S.-British mistrust and, 105–6
in World War II, 96–101, 103–6
curiosity, 218
Cybernetics (Wiener), 178, 179
Darwin, Charles, 32, 52, 170, 265
Davisson, Clinton “Davy,” 67–68
De Morgan, Augustus, 296n
Depression, Great, 14, 34, 182, 183
De Rosa, Louis A., 189
“Development of Communication and Computing, and My Hobby” (Shannon), 265–67
Dianetics (Hubbard), 201
differential analyzer, xii–xiii, 20, 24, 30–31, 43, 266
limitations on, 33
differential equations, 23–24
difficulty of solving, 24
fire control and, 26–27
integrals in, 27
digital systems, definition of, 129
dissatisfaction, constructive, 218
as information source, 139–40
Doob, Joseph L., 170–74
Douglass, Kingman, 194–95
Douglass College, 183
DuBridge, Lee, 167
Dudley, Homer, 99–100
Dwight, Ellen, 227
Earth, xiv
Edgerton, Harold “Doc,” 248–49
Edison, Thomas, 265
as CS’s idol, 11–12
Eiffel Tower, 131
Einstein, Albert, xv, 76, 77–78, 89, 136, 184, 217, 279
CS compared to, 187
Eisenhower, Dwight, 194
electrical grids, stability of, 28
electric light, 265
Eliot, T. S., 111
Ellis Island, 105
Endgame (chess-playing computer), 215, 266
England, see Great Britain
English Channel, 121
entropy, 311n
information and, 162–64
Second Law of Thermodynamics and, 162n
Entropy House (Shannon home), 227–28, 233–34, 270, 271
CS’s laboratory and workshop at, 228, 233, 244–45
Juggling Club meetings at, 249, 268–69
as pilgrimage site for students and colleagues, 228, 231–32, 233
Erector Sets, xv, 6, 11, 203, 256
error-correcting mechanisms, 224
Escher, M. C., 278
Ethical Culture Fieldston School, 170–71
eugenics, 50–51
Eugenics Record Office, 50–52, 53
evolution, synthesis of genetics and, 52
Ex-Prodigy: My Childhood and Youth (Wiener), 175
fail-safe mechanisms, 224
Fano, Robert, 114, 154, 156, 157, 192, 270
“Favorable Strategy for Twenty-One, A” (Thorp), 244
fax machine, Nyquist’s prototype of, 126–27
Fermat’s last theorem, 69
Fermi, Enrico, 131
Feynman, Richard, xv, 79, 188, 283
Fields, W. C., 253
Fine, Reuben, 214
differential equations and, 26–27
Firschke, Trixie, 253
Fischer, Bobby, 216
Fisher, Ronald, 52
Foreign Intelligence Service, German, 97
Forster, Georg, 252
Fortune, 186–87
Fourier analysis, 177
“Fourth-Dimensional Twist, or a Modest Proposal in Aid of the American Driver in England, The” (Shannon), 259–60
Frank, Larry, 206
Franklin, Benjamin, 49
Freudenthal, Hans, 176
Fry, Thornton C., 65, 67, 68–71, 74, 85, 89
as CS’s mentor, 68, 75, 81, 83, 90, 166
Fundamental Theorem for a Discrete Channel with Noise, 179
Fussell, Paul, 29
Gallager, Robert, 161, 169, 184–85, 191, 229, 230, 231, 232–33, 236, 268, 279, 325n
gambling, 224–25
mafia and, 246
strategies for, 243–44
wearable computer for, 244–46
Gates, Bill, 275
Gaylord, Mich., 4–6, 7–8, 10, 18, 34, 61, 62, 187, 257
Gaylord High School, 7
Gaylord Study Club, 7
generalization, in problem solving, 220
general relativity, theory of, 76
genes, 54–55
genetics:
CS’s application of algebra to, 53–60
CS’s research in, 48
Eugenics Record Office data and, 51–52
synthesis of Darwinian theory and, 52
genius, CS on, 218
Germany, 14
Germany, Nazi, 50, 76, 77, 86, 97, 148n, 167
missile development by, 86, 88
Gertner, Jon, 65–66, 67–68, 91, 112, 114, 200, 249
Gidden, Shirley Hutchins, 11
Gifford, Walter, 66
Glasgow, Scotland, 121
“Gold Bug, The” (Poe), 3–4, 150, 151
Golomb, Solomon, 173–74
Google, 66
Göring, Hermann, 86
Goulding, Harvey, 15
Grace, Teddy, 79
Graham, Benjamin, 240
Great Britain, 88, 97, 104, 108, 120, 259–60, 261, 294n
German air raids on, 167
U.S. mistrust of, 105–6
Great Depression, 14, 34, 182, 183
Greece, 14
Green, Hetty, 240
Greene, Charles, 15
Greenwich Village, CS’s apartment in, 110–11, 136, 182
Guernica, Spain, 86
gunnery, see fire control
Haldane, J. B. S., 52
Hamming, Richard, 277
Hampton Court Palace, maze at, 203
Harlem (New York City), 110
harmonic analyzer, 25–28
Harrison, Bill, 239
Harrison Laboratories, 239
Hartley, Ralph, 130–37, 138, 141, 143–45, 157
CS as influenced by, 130
Harvard University, 58, 168, 171, 176, 178, 224
Haus, Hermann, 230
Heaviside, Oliver, 65
Heisenberg, Werner, 131
Helmholtz, Hermann von, 125
heredity, Eugenics Record Office files on, 51–53
Hewlett-Packard (HP), 67, 112, 239, 242
Hitler, Adolf, 86
Holland, 97
Hoover, Herbert, 14
Hubbard, L. Ron, 200–201
Hudson River, 110
Huffman, David, 156
Humphrey, Hubert, 258
Hungary, 182
Huron River, 13
IBM, xv
Idea Factory, The (Gertner), 65–66
Illinois, University of, 168, 169
Institute for Communications Research at, 167
Inamori, Kazuo, 263–64
industry, mathematicians in, 68–71
information:
bit as fundamental unit of, xiv, 154
choice and, 133–34, 138, 141–44
digitization of, 160–61
entropy and, 162–64
logarithmic scale of, 134
as measurable quantity, xii, xiii–xiv, 135, 154
noise and, xiv
probalistic nature of, 141–42
as reduction of uncertainty, 142–44
as stochastic, 145–53
transmission speed of, 154–56
uncertainty and, 311n
see also communications
Information Age, 109, 153–54, 165, 236, 275
CS on, 236–37
CS’s theory as foundation of, xii, xiv, 12, 236, 262, 270, 275
information science:
early glimpses of, 125
Hartley and, 130–37, 138, 141, 143–45, 157
Nyquist and, 126–30, 138, 141, 144, 157
Bello’s article on, 186–87
channel capacity in, 157–61
choice in, 141–42
CS as inventor of, xi–xii, xiii–xiv, 60, 101, 106, 115, 126, 181, 273–75
as foundation of Information Age, xii, xiv, 12, 262, 270, 275
Hartley as progenitor of, 130–37, 138, 141, 143–45, 157
maximum compactness theorem of, 154, 156
misunderstandings and misapplications of, 189–92
Nyquist as progenitor of, 126–30, 131, 132, 133, 134, 138, 141, 144, 157, 308n
probability in, 141–44
redundancy in, 151–56
signal/noise theorem in, 156–61, 179
stochastic model in, 145–53
telegraphy in, 145
uncertainty in, 142–44
universal model in, 138–40
Weaver’s enthusiasm for, 166–67
Wiener and, 177–80
“Information Theory, The” (Bello), 186–87
Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), 63, 64, 83, 94
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Information Theory Society, 261
Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE), Professional Group on Information Theory of, 189
integrals, 27
intelligence, xiii, 61, 77, 89, 127–30, 138
see also information
International Information Theory Symposium, xi
intersymbol interference, 136
“In Which Fields Do We Graze?” (De Rosa), 189
Iowa, University of, 168
Iowa Writers’ Workshop, 167
IQ, nature-nurture debate on, 53
Israel, 261
It Wasn’t All Magic (Burke), 96–97
“Jabberwocky” (Carroll), 234
Jacobs, Irwin, 233
Japan Airlines, 263
jargon, 153
jazz, CS’s passion for, 61, 110, 111, 255
Jefferson, Thomas, 227
Johnson, Lyndon, 258
Josiah Willard Gibbs Lecture, 174
Joyce, James, 111
juggling:
CS’s bounce and toss experiment in, 247–48
CS’s lifelong interest in, xi, xv, 228, 247, 249, 250, 266
CS’s robotic jugglers, 256
CS’s unpublished paper on, 250–56, 280–81
mathematics and, 249–50, 251, 254–55
Juggling Club (MIT), 248–49, 268–69
Jupiter, 262
Jutland, Battle of, 26–27
Kailath, Thomas, 178–79, 234–35, 262
Kaplan, Fred, 91–92
Kaufman, Robert, 171
Kelly, John, 225
Kelvin, Lord, see Thomson, William, Lord Kelvin
Kentucky Fried Chicken, 242
King’s College, Cambridge, 103
Kipling, Rudyard, 120
Kleiner Perkins, 111
Kleinrock, Len, 229, 230, 231–32, 278
Koestler, Arthur, 283–84
Kolmogorov, Andrey, 276
Kompfner, Rudi, 259
Korean War, 197
Krankheit, Hagen (char.), 148n
Krupa, Gene, 255
Kyocera, 263
Kyoto Prize in Basic Science, 263–67
Lane Funeral Home, 271
languages:
CS’s garbled text experiment on, 146–49
letter frequency in, 3, 146–47, 149–51
stochastic nature of, 146–53
Laws of Thought, The (Boole), 36
League of Nations, Economic Section of, 79
Legrand, William (char.), 3, 150, 151
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, 54, 180
Lempel, Abraham, 262
Lend-Lease Act, 105
Leonardo da Vinci, 49
letter frequency, 3–4, 146–47, 149–51
Levi-Strauss, Claude, 111
Lévy, Paul, 177
Lewbel, Arthur, 78, 248, 250, 255–56, 262, 270
Lewes, George Henry, 114
Library Board (Gaylord, Mich.), 7
Lincoln Laboratory, 224
Liversidge, Anthony, 173
logic:
binary choice in, xiii
Boolean, 35–37, 38–39, 40–41, 54, 72
digitization of, 160–61
as force multiplier, 35
London, England, 108
Blitz in, 86
London Times, 119–20
Loomis, Alfred Lee, 167
Lord Valentine’s Castle (Silverberg), 252
Los Alamos National Laboratory, 93
McCulloch, Warren, 201
McEliece, R. J., 166
machines, CS’s lifelong interest in, 203–9, 233, 243
thinking, see thinking machines
McMillan, Brockway, 113–14, 211
Macy Conference (1951), 205–6
mafia, gambling industry and, 246
Manchester, University of, 108
Manhattan Project, 167
MANIAC, 96
“Man-Machines May Talk First to Dr. Shannon, The” (Brewer), 207–8
Manning, Charlie, 228
Marconi, Guglielmo, 265
Maric, Mileva, 184
Marietta College, 168
Marshall, George, 97
Masonic Hall (Philadelphia), 210
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 20, 32–34, 38, 53, 59, 154, 187, 201, 215, 226, 227, 244, 262, 266, 279
Bush at, xii, 22, 28, 29, 34–35, 49
CS as full professor at, 225, 228–33, 234–35, 236, 239, 240–41, 244, 246, 248, 261, 262, 276
CS as graduate student at, xii, 32, 34, 45–49, 61, 74, 94, 177
CS as visiting professor at, 223–25
Juggling Club at, 248–49, 268–69
Radiation Laboratory (Rad Lab) at, 167
Massey, James, 158
Mathematical Review, 172
“Mathematical Studies Relating to Fire Control” (NDRC project), 85–89
“Mathematical Theory of Communication, A” (Shannon), xiii–xiv, 138, 235, 262
see also information theory
Mathematical Theory of Communication, The (Shannon and Weaver), 168–69, 172–74
“Mathematical Theory of Cryptography—Case 208078, A” (Shannon), 101–2
Mathematician’s Apology, A (Hardy), 172
mathematics, mathematicians:
in industry, 68–71
juggling and, 249–50, 251, 254–55
Mathematics of Juggling, The (Polster), 250
Maxwell, James Clerk, 162n
Mead, Debra, 268
Mead, Margaret, 206
messenger RNA, 140
Michigan, xii, 7, 8, 14, 32, 35
Michigan, University of, 14–15, 269
College of Engineering at, 15–16
Literary College at, 15
Michigan Central Railroad, 7
Mill, John Stuart, 9
Minckler, Rex, 105
Mindell, David, 88–89
missiles, German development of, 86, 88
Mitchell, Silas Weir, 210
Monticello, 227
Moore, Betty, see Shannon, Betty Moore
More, Trenchard, 229
Morgenstern, Oskar, 240
Morristown, N.J., 184
Morse, Marston, 74–75
Morse, Samuel, 146
Morse code, 10–11, 132, 145, 146, 159n, 236
Motorola, 242
Moulton, Maria, 110, 113, 114, 115
CS’s relationship with, 111
Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, 272
Müllabfuhrwortmaschine, 148n
Murray State University, 264
Muslims, 250
Mystic Lake, 245
Nasar, Sylvia, 77, 170, 181, 195
Nash, John, 77–78, 170, 172, 181, 263
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), 65
National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), 81–82, 83, 89
CS’s work for, 87–89
National Medal of Science, 258
National Register of Historic Places, 227
National Research Fellowship, 63
National Security Agency (NSA), 96, 100, 194, 196–98
National Security Scientific Advisory Board, 196–98
nature-nurture problem, 53
Navajo Indians, in World War II cryptology, 98
Naval Academy, U.S., 194
Neuhoff, David, 269
Nevada, 246
New Deal, 182
New Hampshire, 63
New Jersey College for Women, 183
Newton, Isaac, xi, xii, 23, 25, 32, 54, 89, 122, 136, 180, 217, 265, 279
New York, N.Y., 12, 62, 63, 79, 91, 104–5, 126, 170, 177, 223
CS’s apartment in, 110–11, 136, 182
jazz scene in, 110
New Yorker, 209
New York State, 27
New York Times, 48, 178, 182, 273
nicknames, 153
Nobel, Alfred, 48
Nobel Prize, 67, 68, 170, 188, 263, 264
quantification of, 136
redundancy and, 158–59
signal vs., 119–20, 123–24, 126, 127, 156–61, 179
North Korea, 197
Nyquist, Harry, 126–30, 131, 132, 133, 134, 138, 141, 144, 157, 308n
fax prototype of, 126–27
Ogden, John, 11–12
Oliver, Bernard “Barney,” 67, 111–12, 113, 259
Omni, 188
one-time pads, 101–2
On the Origin of Species (Darwin), 170
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 93, 171
Otsego County, Mich., 6
Otsego County Herald Times, 48
Oxford, N.J., 6
Oxford English Dictionary, 153
Oxford University, CS’s fellowship at, 259–60
Palo Alto, Calif., 227
Parkinson, David, 87–88
Pearl Harbor, Japanese attack on, 91, 97, 197
Pennsylvania, University of, 107, 236
Perkins, Tom, 111–12
Philadelphia, Pa., 210
Philippines, 52
Pickup on Noon Street (Chandler), 152–53
pictures:
Nyquist’s prototype for transmitting, 126–27
quantification of, 135
Pierce, John, 112–13, 123, 137, 182, 259
Piper Cub, 47
Pitts, Walter, 177–78
pixels, 135
Plato, 172
Platt, John R., 178
playfulness, as central to CS’s nature, xi, xv, 46, 266, 267, 270, 277, 278–81
Poe, Edgar Allan, 4, 149–50, 151, 211
Poincaré, Henri, 180
Poincaré conjecture, 69
Poland, 14
Pollak, Henry, 70, 199, 205, 226, 235–36
Pollen, Arthur, 294n
Polster, Burkard, 250
“Poor Boy, A” (Shannon), 9
Popular Science, 205
“Portfolio Problem, The” (Shannon lecture), 224–25
potentiometers, 87–88
Poundstone, William, 48, 187, 201, 242
Princeton, N.J., 77–78
Prisoner’s Dilemma, 75–76
probability, in information theory, 141–44
problems, CS on strategies for solving, 218–20
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 244
Profile Tracer, 21–22, 25, 27–28, 31
“Programming a Computer for Playing Chess” (Shannon), 212–16
“Project Cyclops,” 112
“Project X,” see SIGSALY system
PTA, 7
Pythian Sisters, 7
Qualcomm, 233
quantum mechanics, 76, 131, 186, 187
Quhi, Abu Sahl al-, 250
radar, 167
radio, 265
RAND Corporation, 93
Rastelli, Enrico, 254
Red Cross, 7
adding, coding for, 159–60
elimination of, coding for, 154–56
in languages, 158–59
noise and, 158–59
transmission speed and, 154–56
relativity, theory of, 76, 186, 187
CS’s study of, xiii, xv, 34–35, 37–42, 46, 72–73, 160, 203
“Reliable Machines from Unreliable Components” (Shannon lecture), 224
Republicans, 14
Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), 17
restating, in problem solving, 219
Ridenour, Louis, 167, 168, 169
Roberts, Larry, 232
Rockefeller Foundation, 34, 166, 167
Division of Natural Sciences at, 166
Roosevelt, Franklin D., xiii, 14, 67, 80, 81, 97–98, 150, 182
Russell, Bertrand, xv, 177, 180, 263, 273
Russia, 14
Ruthven, A. G., 14
Sagan, Carl, xiv
Samuelson, Paul, 176
San Francisco, Calif., 126
Saturn, 262
Schellenberg, Walter, 97–98
Scientific American, 165, 214, 280, 281
Scientology, 200–201
Second Law of Thermodynamics, 162n
Sedgwick, Adam, 170
Segrè, Emilio Gino, 263
Selective Service and Training Act (1940), 80
“Seminar on Information Theory” (Shannon lecture), 224
Shannon, Betty Moore, 192, 203, 212, 215, 223, 227, 246, 256, 257, 258, 262, 264–65, 272
background of, 182
at Bell Labs, 183–84
CS’s Alzheimer’s and, 269, 270–71
education of, 182–83
family life of, 233–34
mathematical talent of, 183–85
professional partnership of CS and, 184–85
wedding of CS and, 184
Shannon, Catherine, 8, 9, 13, 18, 184, 264–65
Shannon, Claude Elwood, xi–xv
abstractive genius of, 46
Alfred Noble Prize awarded to, 48
Alzheimer’s disease of, 268–71
barbed wire telegraph of, xii, 4–5, 34, 72
at Bell Labs, 38, 68, 70, 71–73, 101
Bell Labs friends of, 111–14
Betty Moore and, see Shannon, Betty Moore
birth of, 8
Boolean algebra and, 37–39
as both mathematician and engineer, 275, 276
chess as passion of, 199, 211–12
childhood and adolescence of, xii, 4–5, 8, 9–11, 19, 34, 72, 126
at Cold Spring Harbor, 49, 53–60
computerized chess and, xv, 212–16
cryptography as early interest of, 4, 19
cryptography expertise of, xiii, 95, 101–2, 104, 152, 193–94, 195, 310n
death of, 271–72
demands on time of, 195
dual engineering and math undergraduate degrees of, 16–17
Erector sets of, xv, 6, 11, 203, 256
family life of, 233
flight training of, 47
Fry’s mentoring of, 68, 75, 81, 83, 90, 166
gambling strategies and, 244
Greenwich Village apartment of, 110–11, 136, 182
honors and prizes awarded to, 257–59, 261–62
on human-machine interactions, 207–9
impatience of, 113–14
as inconsistent correspondent, 200
information theory invented by, see information theory
at Institute for Advanced Study, 74–80, 162
intellectual courage of, 277–78
intuitive thought process of, 184–85, 230, 232–33, 245
jazz as passion of, 61, 110, 111, 255
juggling as passion of, see juggling
Kyoto laureate lecture of, 265–67
Kyoto Prize awarded to, 263–67
legacy of, 273–81
machines as fascination of, 203–9
master’s thesis of, xiii, 39–43
mathematics as early interest of, 9, 10, 16–17
mechanical abilities of, 10–11, 16–17
misapplication of information theory as concerning to, 190–92
as MIT full professor, 225, 228–33, 234–35, 236, 239, 240–41, 244, 246, 248, 261, 262, 276
as MIT graduate student, xii, 32, 34, 45–49, 61, 74, 94, 177
as MIT visiting professor, 223–25
modesty and self-effacement of, xii, xiv, xv, 48, 107, 179, 257, 262, 275, 276, 278
National Medal of Science awarded to, 258
National Research Fellowship of, 63
NDRC work of, 81–82
Norma Levor and, see Shannon, Norma Levor
numerous publications of, 235
Oxford fellowship of, 259–60
playfulness of, xi, xv, 46, 266, 267, 270, 277, 278–81
practical nature of, 72
publishing results as secondary to, 59–60
puzzle solutions published by, 19–20
roulette prediction device of Thorp and, 245–46
as SCAG member, 196–98
self-isolation of, xii, 46, 47–48, 59, 62, 79, 114, 185, 202, 230
Stanford fellowship of, 226, 258–59
teaching method of, 232
Theseus project of, 203–7, 211, 217, 266, 278
as tinkerer, xii, xv, 10, 11, 45–46, 72, 228–29, 233, 234, 243, 244–45, 270, 271, 276
unicycles of, xv, 199, 228, 248, 249, 279
at University of Michigan, 13, 15–20, 35, 39–43
war work disliked by, 93–94, 95
wide-ranging interests of, 275–76
Winchester house of, see Entropy House
work as hobby for, 266
Shannon, Claude Elwood, Sr., 5–6, 8
death of, 18
Shannon, David, Jr., 11
Shannon, Mabel Wolf, 5–7, 8, 290n
CS’s estrangement from, 18
Shannon, Norma Levor, 77, 78, 110
atheism of, 63
background of, 62
CS’s courtship of, 62–63
intellectual ambitions of, 63, 80
wedding of CS and, 63
Shannon, Peggy, 183, 228, 233, 234, 238–39, 240, 242, 249, 258, 261, 264–65, 268–69, 270, 271
Shannon family, 233–34, 258, 269
travels by, 261–62
Shannon Limit, 157, 270, 274, 325n
Sheldon, William, 111
Shockley, William, 67
shorthand, 153
shumi (hobby), 266
signals:
conversion of, from analog to digital, 134–35
fluctuation of, 127
noise vs., 119–20, 123–24, 126, 127, 156–61, 179
SIGSALY system, 96, 98–99, 100, 101, 103
Silverberg, Robert, 252–53
similarities, in problem solving, 219
simplifying, in problem solving, 219
Singleton, Henry, 239
$64,000 Question (TV show), 225
slide rules, 265–66
Smith, Adam, 240
Smith, Walter Bedell, 193–94, 195
smoothing, 88
solutions, CS on strategies for arriving at, 218–20
South Korea, 197
Soviet Union, 166, 174, 194, 211–12
Spanish Civil War, 86
Special Cryptologic Advisory Group (SCAG), 196–98
spinning jenny, 265
Staebler, Edward, 14
Stanford University, 178, 258–59
Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at, 226
Staten Island, N.Y., 182
steam engine, 265
stochastic processes, 76
information as, 145–53
Stockholm, Sweden, 264
stock market, 243
Shannons’ investments in, 234, 238–42
stock market crash of 1929, 14
structural analysis, in problem solving, 219–20
SWEATER project, 196
Sweden, 126
Swift, Edgar James, 250–51
“Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits, A” (Shannon), 39–43
Szegoő, Gábor, 94
Szilard, Leo, 162n
technology, CS’s optimistic view of, 208–9
telegraphs, telegraphy, 127, 265
homemade networks of, 4–5
information theory and, 145
telephone networks, 38, 66, 77, 125–26
automated switchboards in, 126
color coding of, 71–72
“thalassophilia,” 51
“Theorem on Color Coding” (Shannon), 71–73
“Theoretical Possibilities Using Codes with Different Numbers of Current Values” (Nyquist), 128
thermodynamics, Second Law of, 162n
Theseus (maze-solving mechanical mouse), xv, 203–7, 211, 217, 266, 278
thinking machines:
CS on future of, 266
CS’s fascination with, 203–9
see also artificial intelligence; computers, digital
Thomson, William, Lord Kelvin, 36, 43, 123, 124, 125, 127, 157
harmonic analyzer of, 25–28
transatlantic cable and, 120, 121–22
Thorp, Ed, 243–46
Thorp, Vivian, 246
THROBAC (Thrifty Roman-Numeral Backward-Looking Computer), xv, 207, 243
Throop College of Technology, 83
tides, prediction of, 24–25, 127
Tonga, Tongans, 252–53
transatlantic telegraph cable, 119–24, 157, 158
transatlantic telephony, first successful experiment in, 130–31
“Transmission of Information” (Hartley), 131
transmission speed, redundancy and, 154–56
Tufts University, 176
Tukey, John, 141
TUNNY, 96
turbo codes, 325n
Turing, Alan, xiii, 42–43, 99, 150
cryptography and, 103–6
CS’s friendship with, 104, 106–9
death of, 109
Turing Test, 209
“Turk, The” (hoax), 210–11, 212
Turkey, 261
Tuxedo Park laboratory, 93
U-boats, 167
Ultimate Machine, xv, 207, 278
uncertainty, in information theory, 142–44, 311n
unicycles, xv, 199, 228, 248, 249, 279
United States, British mistrust of, 105–6
University of Illinois Press, 168
Upper Mystic Lake, 227
“Use of the Lakatos-Hickman Relay in a Suburban-Sender Case, The” (Shannon), 72
Valentia Island, 122
Vanity Fair, 254
Versailles, Treaty of, 86
Virginia, 131
Vocoder (Voice Encoder), 99, 100
Voder (Voice Operation Demonstrator), 99–100
Vogue, 207–8
Von Neumann, John, xiii, 74, 75–76, 93, 162, 172, 175, 194, 195–96, 197, 198, 240
Voyage Round the World, A (Forster), 252–53
Wall Street Journal, 238
Wall Street Week (TV show), 241
Walter Reed Hospital, 198
Washington, D.C., 196
Washington Square Park, (New York City), 110
Watson, James, 188
Watt, James, 265
Wealth of Nations, The (Smith), 240
Weaver, Warren, 83–85, 86, 89, 90, 166–67, 168–69
White House, 258
Whitehouse, O. E. Wildman, 121–22, 157
Wiener, Leo, 175–76
Wiener, Norbert, 9, 74, 175–80, 187, 263
wig-wag (flag) signaling, 10–11, 126
Wilkins, Maurice, 188
Winchester, Mass., 227–28, 231, 233, 235, 249, 271
wireless telegraphy and telephony, 16
Wisconsin, 83
Wisconsin, University of, 83, 92
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 199
World’s Fair (1939), 99
World War II, 22, 80, 86–90, 91–95, 137, 167, 196
cryptography and, 96–101, 103–6
Pacific Theater of, 194
see also fire control
World Wide Web, 237
Wright, Sewall, 52
Xenophon, 253
“You and Your Research” (Hamming lecture), 277
Zen Buddhism, 263
Ziv, Jacob, 262