devutilsFrançais · article non traduitGitHub 1916-04-30 — 2001-02-24
A bridge between fields
Claude Elwood Shannon (30 April 1916 – 24 February 2001) was a mathematician and electrical engineer. MIT News and the AMS memoir record that he received bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and electrical engineering there in 1936. His work offers two different entry points into computing: reasoning about circuits and reasoning about communication.
Logic and circuits
MIT’s centenary overview dates Shannon’s master’s thesis work on Boolean algebra and switching circuits to 1937. MIT News dates the award of his SM and PhD degrees to 1940; that is distinct from the earlier thesis work and the 1938 paper. The connection is explored in our switching-circuit history entry. Start with Boolean algebra to work through a small example before reading the historical paper.
Communication and information
His 1948 paper, A Mathematical Theory of Communication, helped establish information theory. The institutional and memoir accounts identify it as a central publication in his communication work. This concerns a different question from designing a switch network: how to describe and transmit information.
These subjects are related within computing, but a circuit’s truth table and a communication system’s information model answer different questions. This profile is an introduction to those connections, not a full biography or a technical account of information theory.
Read through the connections
For a practical starting point, follow the Boolean-algebra article and then the historical circuit entry. For biographical context, use the institutional sources below. Their celebratory descriptions should not be read as evidence that one person independently created every part of modern digital computing.
Verification record
- Sources assessed by Codex (assistant)
- No executable example check recorded
- Independent human review pending
Selected claims have been assessed against the passages below. This record does not certify every sentence or guarantee correctness.
Inspect claims, evidence and limitations
Source assessment: . 3 of 3 selected claims marked supported by the assessor. This is not a coverage percentage for the article.
The profile’s life dates and 1936 bachelor’s degrees follow the cited biographical accounts.
Assessor finding: supported · historical · Article passage
- MIT News, Shannon obituary (2001) — education and degree dates — Obituary paragraphs on death, birth and bachelor’s degrees
Passage read: Source passage read during this assessment. - Golomb and colleagues, Claude Elwood Shannon, Notices of the AMS 49(1) — memoir — Printed p. 8 (PDF page 1), opening memoir
Passage read: Source passage read during this assessment. - University of Michigan, Claude E. Shannon Statue Dedication — dates, education and communication work — Biographical paragraph
Access blocked: Direct retrieval returned HTTP 403; search excerpts were visible but are not counted as a source read.
The AMS memoir provides a separately authored account for birth/education; the exact death date is supported here by MIT.
- MIT News, Shannon obituary (2001) — education and degree dates — Obituary paragraphs on death, birth and bachelor’s degrees
1937 work, 1938 publication and 1940 degree award are separate milestones.
Assessor finding: supported · historical · Article passage
- MIT, A Boole/Shannon Celebration — biographical overview — Claude Shannon biographical paragraph
Passage read: Source passage read during this assessment. - MIT News, Shannon obituary (2001) — education and degree dates — SM/PhD degree paragraph
Passage read: Source passage read during this assessment. - Golomb and colleagues, Claude Elwood Shannon, Notices of the AMS 49(1) — memoir — Printed p. 8, opening memoir
Passage read: Source passage read during this assessment.
The profile was clarified to prevent interpreting the thesis-work date as the degree-award date.
- MIT, A Boole/Shannon Celebration — biographical overview — Claude Shannon biographical paragraph
The profile identifies the 1948 communication paper as a separate contribution.
Assessor finding: supported · historical · Article passage
- MIT News, Shannon obituary (2001) — education and degree dates — Opening obituary paragraphs
Passage read: Source passage read during this assessment. - Golomb and colleagues, Claude Elwood Shannon, Notices of the AMS 49(1) — memoir — Printed p. 8, opening memoir
Passage read: Source passage read during this assessment.
This introductory profile is not a complete attribution history.
- MIT News, Shannon obituary (2001) — education and degree dates — Opening obituary paragraphs
Reproducible checks
These historical or editorial claims have no executable truth test. Source assessment and human review remain separate.
Limits and open work
- No independent human historian has reviewed the profile.
- The Michigan page was blocked during direct retrieval; source-access status is recorded rather than hidden.
- Biographical dates and publication claims are not established by arithmetic tests.
Independent human review
Pending. No independent human reviewer has signed off this version.
Content fingerprint: 694baf3e3d8eea78690152d3f7c29c252e4aa4f7af7dcad461fd7905be82dac3. An article change invalidates this assessment.
Sources
- MIT, A Boole/Shannon Celebration — biographical overview
- University of Michigan, Claude E. Shannon Statue Dedication — dates, education and communication work
- MIT News, Shannon obituary (2001) — education and degree dates
- Golomb and colleagues, Claude Elwood Shannon, Notices of the AMS 49(1) — memoir
Published by devutils · Updated · Original explanatory text; sources retain their own terms.