Claude E. Shannon (1948) invented information theory and provided
the concepts, insights, and mathematical formulations that now form the
basis for modern communication technology. In a surprisingly large
number of ways, he enabled the information age. A major part of this
influence comes from his two-part monumental 1948 paper, “A
Mathematical Theory of Communication.” We attempt here to provide
some clues as to how a single person could have such a major impact. We
first describe Shannon's life and then study his publications in the
communication area. We next consider his research style in the context
of these publications. Finally, we consider the process under which the
impact of his work evolved from the creation of a beautiful and
challenging theory to the establishment of the central principles
guiding digital communication technology. We end with some reflections
on the research environment that stimulates such work both then and now
%0 Journal Article
%1 Gallager01
%A Gallager, R.G.
%D 2001
%J Information Theory, IEEE Transactions on
%K InformationTheory entropy people
%N 7
%P 2681-2695
%R 10.1109/18.959253
%T Claude E. Shannon: a retrospective on his life, work, and impact
%V 47
%X Claude E. Shannon (1948) invented information theory and provided
the concepts, insights, and mathematical formulations that now form the
basis for modern communication technology. In a surprisingly large
number of ways, he enabled the information age. A major part of this
influence comes from his two-part monumental 1948 paper, “A
Mathematical Theory of Communication.” We attempt here to provide
some clues as to how a single person could have such a major impact. We
first describe Shannon's life and then study his publications in the
communication area. We next consider his research style in the context
of these publications. Finally, we consider the process under which the
impact of his work evolved from the creation of a beautiful and
challenging theory to the establishment of the central principles
guiding digital communication technology. We end with some reflections
on the research environment that stimulates such work both then and now
@article{Gallager01,
abstract = {Claude E. Shannon (1948) invented information theory and provided
the concepts, insights, and mathematical formulations that now form the
basis for modern communication technology. In a surprisingly large
number of ways, he enabled the information age. A major part of this
influence comes from his two-part monumental 1948 paper, “A
Mathematical Theory of Communication.” We attempt here to provide
some clues as to how a single person could have such a major impact. We
first describe Shannon's life and then study his publications in the
communication area. We next consider his research style in the context
of these publications. Finally, we consider the process under which the
impact of his work evolved from the creation of a beautiful and
challenging theory to the establishment of the central principles
guiding digital communication technology. We end with some reflections
on the research environment that stimulates such work both then and now
},
added-at = {2008-10-13T11:41:22.000+0200},
author = {Gallager, R.G.},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2601e11ac3f62cc00c5bd23b76384315e/mkroell},
doi = {10.1109/18.959253},
interhash = {48f71907a01b83c5cadfdd2cd332bb82},
intrahash = {601e11ac3f62cc00c5bd23b76384315e},
issn = {0018-9448},
journal = {Information Theory, IEEE Transactions on},
keywords = {InformationTheory entropy people},
month = Nov,
number = 7,
pages = {2681-2695},
timestamp = {2008-10-13T11:41:22.000+0200},
title = {Claude E. Shannon: a retrospective on his life, work, and impact
},
volume = 47,
year = 2001
}