Claude Shannon At 100: Who Are His Living Peers?

Claude Shannon was born precisely 100 years ago, on Apr 30th, 1916. After I quick read the Wikipedia page, it seems to me that he is rightfully considered a manlike mortal bring upward of the digital historic menses together with 1 of the greatest 20th century engineers whose locomote was of import plenty to send upon science, too.

He died inward 2001.

(Interestingly enough, an of import "she" from my undergraduate years was born precisely xl years ago, i.e. sixty years after Shannon. Congratulations. In Czechia, Apr 30th is the 24-hour interval of Mácha's poesy form "Máj".)

Shannon was born inward Michigan. His manlike mortal bring upward was a self-made human being of affairs (at around district level, I could depict my dad inward the same way) together with his woman bring upward was a teacher.




As a kid, he was speedily seen to hold out deeply interested together with expert inward electrical together with mechanical things. Edison was his hero. Shannon remained atheist together with apolitical throughout his life. He speedily began to investigate circuits, the might of logical gates to correspond everything (he may convey been the kickoff 1 who made such "universalist" insights). He has done lots of locomote related to relays, cryptography together with codebreaking, transmission of information, together with application of around data concepts inward biological scientific discipline etc.

His degrees were from MIT together with he was later on affiliated with IAS Princeton, besides (where he was coming together the around famous physicists, with others).




The Shannon entropy is named after him. I've ever consider this formula unspectacular given the fact that it was genuinely a simplified, slightly differently interpreted, version of the von Neumann entropy that had existed before. And von Neumann genuinely recommended Shannon to telephone phone his formula for the Shannon data "Shannon entropy", too.

Shannon interacted both with von Neumann together with with Alan Turing. These people made around of the around telephone commutation contributions to the classical architecture of computers as nosotros convey known them since the war. Each of them could practise everything that they did collectively, I experience ;-), but it but happens that they had to percentage it inward around way.

Shannon has won numerous prizes. I was intrigued yesteryear the Alfred Noble Prize – this is a cute refer for an technology scientific discipline prize that sure makes people confuse it with the Nobel Prize – together with the Claude Shannon Prize that he won inward 1972 – cheers to this detail success, he may in all probability hold out considered the manlike mortal bring upward of recursive algorithms, too. ;-)

But it's fifty-fifty cooler to await at his diverse hobbies together with innovative pranks. He played chess and, to a greater extent than nontrivially, he was expert plenty at juggling together with unicycling. These are bizarre skills together with I mean value that non besides many theorists are expert at such things. But he also constructed the real useful ultimate machine that, after you lot plough it on yesteryear a switch, opens together with turns itself off yesteryear a mechanical hand. ;-)

He created an artificial mouse-sized mouse that is able to learn through mazes. It may repeat the concluding maze if it were successful. And it's trying novel trajectories if this method fails. He also created a machine that tin give notice solve Rubik's cube; consider a modern update of this device. It's nontrivial to write a programme to practise together with then (my estimate is that a big plenty fraction of programmers tin give notice practise it, I in all probability could) – but to add together the mechanical business office to this invention, that requires around odd skills. How many people inward the basis together with how many TRF readers could practise it today? Are these 2 numbers equal to each other?

Shannon also coinvented the world's kickoff wearable reckoner that could improve your skills piece playing roulette; together with the Minivac 601 trainer of reckoner skills for the employment organization people (video inward CZ).

He was expert at many like things. Which engineering-style human being (or woman?) inward the basis today would you lot consider Shannon's counterpart? I estimate that at that spot are numerous people who convey earned vastly to a greater extent than money than Shannon did (the data historic menses was but getting started when Shannon was younger together with the opportunities weren't quite "privatized" at those times yet). But were they every bit technically skillful together with innovative inward the technology scientific discipline itself, or were they but improve inward finding around uncomplicated plenty recipes to brand a lot of bucks?

Do you lot know around people who are non besides famous but who are comparably smart together with skillful to Shannon?