Claude Shannon Essay, Research Paper

Overview

Noted

as a laminitis of information theory, Claude Shannon combined mathematical

theories with technology rules to put the phase for the development

of the digital computing machine. The term & # 8216 ; spot, & # 8217 ; today used to depict

single units of information processed by a computing machine, was coined from

Shannon & # 8217 ; s research in the 1940s.

A Midwesterner, Claude

Shannon was born in Gaylord, Michigan in 1916. From an early age, he showed

an affinity for both technology and mathematics, and graduated from Michigan

University with grades in both subjects. For his advanced grades,

he chose to go to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

At the clip, MIT was

one of a figure of esteemed establishments carry oning research that would

finally explicate the footing for what is now known as the information

scientific disciplines. Its module included mathematician Norbert Wiener, who would

subsequently coin the term cybernetics to depict the work in information theories

that he, Shannon and other prima American mathematicians were carry oning ;

and Vannevar Bush, MIT & # 8217 ; s dean of technology, who in the early 1930s

had built an parallel computing machine called the Differential Analyzer

The Differential Analyzer

was developed to cipher complex equations that counters and reckoners

of the twenty-four hours were unable to turn to. It was a mechanical computing machine, utilizing

a series of cogwheels and shafts to prosecute cogs until the equation was solved.

Once it completed its rhythm, the reply to the equation was obtained by

mensurating the alterations in place of its assorted machine parts. Its lone

electrical parts were the motors used to drive the cogwheels.

With its petroleum rods,

cogwheels and axles, the analyser looked like a kid & # 8217 ; s erector set.

Puting it up to work one equation could take two to three yearss ; work outing

the same equation could take every bit as long, if non longer. In order

to work a new job, the full machine, which took up several hundred

pess of floor infinite, had to be lacerate apart and reset to a new mechanical

constellation.

While at MIT, Shannon

studied with both Wiener and Bush. Noted as a & # 8216 ; fiddler, & # 8217 ; he

was ideally suited to working on the Differential Analyzer, and would

set it up to run equations for other scientists. At Bush & # 8217 ; s suggestion,

Shannon besides studied the operation of the analyser & # 8217 ; s relay circuits

for his maestro & # 8217 ; s thesis. This analysis formed the footing for Shannon & # 8217 ; s

influential 1938 paper “ A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switch overing

Circuits, ” in which he put forth his developing theories on the relationship

of symbolic logic to relay circuits. This paper, and the theories it contained,

would hold a seminal impact on the development of information processing

machines and systems in the old ages to come.

Shannon & # 8217 ; s paper

provided a glance into the hereafter of information processing. While analyzing

the relay switches on the Differential Equalizer as they went about formulating

an equation, Shannon noted that the switches were ever either unfastened or

closed, or on and off. This led him to believe about a mathematical manner

to depict the unfastened and closed provinces, and he recalled the logical theories

of mathematician George Boole, who in the in-between 1800s advanced what he

called the logic of idea, in which all equations were reduced to a

binary system dwelling of nothing and 1s.

Boole & # 8217 ; s theory,

which formulated the footing for Boolean algebra, stated that a statement

of logic carried a one if true and a nothing if false. Shannon theorized

that a switch in the on place would compare to a Boolean 1. In the

off place, it was a nothing.

By cut downing information

to a seri

Es of 1s and nothings, Shannon wrote, information could be processed

by utilizing on-off switches. He besides suggested that these switches could

be connected in such a manner to let them to execute more complex equations

that would travel beyond simple & # 8216 ; yes & # 8217 ; and & # 8216 ; no & # 8217 ; statements

to & # 8216 ; and & # 8217 ; , & # 8216 ; or & # 8217 ; or & # 8216 ; non & # 8217 ; operations.

Shannon graduated from

MIT in 1940 with both a maestro & # 8217 ; s grade and doctor’s degree in mathematics.

After graduation, he spent a twelvemonth as a National Research Fellow at the

Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, where he worked

with mathematician and physicist Hermann Weyl. In 1941, Shannon joined

the Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he became a member of a group of

scientists charged with the undertakings of developing more efficient information

conveying methods and bettering the dependability of long-distance telephone

and telegraph lines.

Shannon believed that

information was no different than any other measure and therefore could

be manipulated by a machine. He applied his earlier research to the job

at manus, once more utilizing Boolean logic to develop a theoretical account that reduced information

to its most simple signifier & # 8211 ; a binary system of yes/no picks, which could

be presented by a 1/0 binary codification. By using set codifications to information

as it was transmitted, the noise it picked up during transmittal could

be minimized, thereby bettering the quality of information transmittal.

In the late fortiess,

Shannon & # 8217 ; s research was presented in The Mathematical Theory of

Communicationss, which he co-authored with mathematician Warren Weaver.

It was in this work that Shannon foremost introduced the word & # 8216 ; spot, & # 8217 ;

comprised of the first two and the last missive of & # 8216 ; binary figure & # 8217 ;

and coined by his co-worker John W. Turley, to depict the yes-no determination

that lay at the nucleus of his theories.

In the 1950s, Shannon

turned his attempts to developing what was so called “ intelligent

machines, ” & # 8211 ; mechanisms that emulated the operations of the human

head to work out jobs. Of his innovations during that clip, the best known

was a maze-solving mouse called Theseus, which used magnetic relays to

larn how to steer through a metal labyrinth.

Shannon & # 8217 ; s information

theories finally saw application in a figure of subjects in which

linguistic communication is a factor, including linguistics, phonetics, psychological science and

cryptanalysis, which was an early love of Shannon & # 8217 ; s. His theories

besides became a basis of the developing field of unreal intelligence,

and in 1956 he was instrumental in convening a conference at Dartmouth

College that was the first major attempt in forming unreal intelligence

research.

Beginnings:

The New Alchemists. Dirk

Hanson. Avon, 1982.

The Biographical

Dictionary of Scientists, Second Edition. Roy Porter, Oxford University

Imperativeness, 1994

Three

Degrees Above Zero: Bell Labs in the Information Age. Jeremy Bernstein,

Charles Scribner & # 8217 ; s Sons, 1984.

McGraw-Hill

Encyclopedia of Science & A ; Technology & # 8211 ; 7th edition. McGraw-Hill,

1992.

The Computer

Pioneers. David Ritchie. Simon & A ; Schuster, 1986.

Engines

of the Mind: A History of the Computer. Joel Shurkin. Norton, 1984.

Portrayals

in Silicon. Robert Slater. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology,

1987.

Silicon

Dreams: Information, Man and Machine. Robert W. Lucky. St. Martin & # 8217 ; s

Imperativeness, 1989.

Cyberneticss

for the Modern Mind. Walter R. Fuchs. Macmillian, 1971.

Mind Tools:

The Five Levels of Mathematial Reality. Rudy Rucker. Houghton Mifflin,

1987.

Larousse

Dictionary of Scientists. Larousse, 1994.