Science · Engineering & invention

Claude Elwood Shannon

Mathematician and communication theorist

Also known as Claude Shannon · C. E. Shannon

Who they are

Claude Shannon developed a mathematical theory of communication that measures information and examines transmission in the presence of noise. His 1948 paper separates the engineering problem of reproducing messages from their meaning. It built on earlier communication work and established a framework for reasoning about coding and the limits of a channel.

His theory supplies part of the technical foundation for the timeline’s history of computing, signals and information.

Selected contributions

Formulated quantitative information measures and limits on communication through noisy channels.Source ↗

Selected works

Academic paper · 1948 · Historical journal article; corrected reprint
A Mathematical Theory of Communication
Author · Bell System Technical Journal 27; corrected reprint hosted by MIT
Shannon formulates a quantitative theory of communication, including information measures, channel limits and the effects of noise. Its treatment concerns reliable transmission rather than the meaning or truth of messages.
Originally published in Bell System Technical Journal in 1948; linked MIT copy is a corrected reprint.
Full text ↗
Reading scope & citation
Reused prior inspected evidence: Supporting introductory and coding-theorem passages read; not all proofs or later corrections audited.