Illustration Credits

Otsego County Times: 1

Necrology files, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan: 2

US Patent and Trademark Office, Patent No 407,130: 3

College of Engineering Records, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan: 4

Detroit Publishing Company Photograph Collection: 5

Shannon family: 6, 9, 18, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 33, 34, 36, 42, 43, 44, 45

Roger W/Flickr: 7

The World’s Work (1902): 8

Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge. Reproduced by permission: 10

Courtesy MIT Museum: 11, 22, 31, 32, 35, 37, 38, 40

Courtesy of Harry H. Laughlin Papers, Special Collections Department, Pickler Memorial Library, Truman State University: 12

Photographer unknown. From the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, USA: 13

Public Domain: 14, 19

Nokia Bell Labs: 15, 16, 21, 26

NASA: 17

Courtesy of the Hartley Family/Wikimedia Commons: 20

Library of Congress: 28

Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images: 30

Courtesy of Edward Thorp: 39

Steve Hansen/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images: 41