Oral-History:Claude E. Shannon
About Claude E. Shannon
Claude E. Shannon was born in Gaylord, Mich., on April 30, 1916. He received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics from the University of Michigan in 1936. From 1936 to 1940, he was at M.I.T., combining graduate studies with professional experience. For two years he was a research assistant in the Electrical Engineering Department, where he operated the Bush mechanical differential analyzer. He was an Assistant in the Mathematics Department from 1938 to 1940, and during 1939-1940, was a Bolles Fellow. He received the S.M. degree in Electrical Engineering and the Ph.D. degree in Mathematics from M.I.T. in 1940.
He was associated with the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University for one year, thereafter as a National Research Fellow and consultant to the National Defense Research Committee. Since 1941, he has been a research mathematician for Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, N. J.
Dr. Shannon's chief work has been in the following fields: the use of Boolean Algebra in relay and switching circuits, theory of communication, Mathematics of cryptography, theory of differential analyzer, and the use of computing machines for numerical operations. He also has studied chess-playing and maze-solving machines, the theory of Turing machines, design of reliable machines from unreliable components, stochastic processes, the Algebra of genetics, and graph theory.
In 1940, Dr. Shannon was the recipient of the Alfred Nobel Prize of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers for his work in switching theory. He received the Morris Liebmann award of the Institute of Radio Engineers in 1949 for his communication theory work. Yale University awarded him an honorary Master of Science degree in 1954, and in 1955, Dr. Shannon received the Stuart Ballantine medal of the Franklin Institute for work in communication theory. He is the author of approximately thirty-five technical papers, and holds several patents. He is co-author, with Warren Weaver, of "The Mathematical Theory of Communication," and co-editor, with John McCarthy, of the forthcoming "Automata Studies."
Dr. Shannon is a Fellow of the Institute of Radio Engineers, and a member of the American Mathematics Society, Sigma Xi, and Phi Kappa Phi.
About the Interview
CLAUDE E. SHANNON: An Interview Conducted by Robert Price, 28 July 1982
Interview # 423 for the IEEE History Center, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Copyright Statement
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Original Copyright: 1982 Robert Price Documentary Trust. 2003: Copyright transferred to the IEEE.
It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows:
Claude E. Shannon, , an oral history conducted in 1982 by Robert Price. IEEE History Center, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
Interview
Interview: Claude E. Shannon
Interviewer: Robert Price
Date: 28 July 1982
Location: Winchester, MA
