Twelve-year-old McEliece, Robert, a mathematician and an engineer at the California Institute of technology, Claude award e Shannon, the top honor in the field of information theory. And discussed during his lecture admission, at an international symposium in Chicago, the award's namesake, who died in 2001.
Someday, imagined McEliece, many thousands of years in the future, one hundred and sixty-sixth edition of "encyclopedia Galactica" — a fictional abstract perception first before Isaac Asimov-biographical note will include the following:
Claude Shannon: born on planet Earth (Sol III) in 1916 a.d. is generally regarded as the father of the information age, coined the concept of the channel in 1948 a.d. during several decades, scientists and engineers have developed ways to process the connection reliable data rates within one percent of the Shannon limit.
As for the encyclopedias at times, he did not clarify justice tone input to heritage the put. This term is monotonous — "channel capacity" – indicates the maximum rate that can travel through certain means Albi anatman without losing integrity. The Shannon limit, as he came to be known, is different for optical fiber cables telephone wires, like absolute zero or at the speed of light, a demonic hard hit in the real world.
But providing a way to calculate this limit perhaps less than major breakthroughs in Shannon. First and foremost, and presented the idea that the information can be quantified at all. Shannon suggested "A mathematical theory of communication," legendary paper of 1948, that data should be measured in bits – separate values of zero or one.
(He gave credit for the invention on the floor to his colleague John Toki, in what was then Bell telephone laboratories ", which coined the phrase" as a contraction of binary digit. ")
"It would be cheesy to compare him to Einstein" James Gleick, author of "information", he told me, before being submitted to the temptation. "Einstein is looming, and rightly so. But we don't live in an age of relativism, we live in the information age. Shannon's fingerprints on all electronic devices we own all our computer screen look to all digital means of communication.
It is one of those people who even change in the world, after the switch, he forgets the old world. "That old world, said Gleick, treats" vague and unimportant, "something that fell into" an information desk in the library. New world, world Shannon, all information, information everywhere. He said David Forney, an electrical engineer and Assistant Professor at MIT, "he created a whole field of zero, from the forehead of Zeus".
Almost immediately, the bit became a sensation: scientists try to measure bird with bits, human speech, and nerve impulses. (In 1956, Shannon wrote edit disapproving about this phenomenon, which is called "wagon.")
Although Shannon's work largely with analog technology, also has some claim as the father in the digital age, ancestral ideas that date back to 1948 paper but also a master's thesis, published before marriage. Melded thesis Georg Paul 19th century Boolean algebra (based on the variables alhkikihwalkazebh, pointing to one side binary zero) with relays and switches for electronic circuits.
Computer scientist and historian at the time, Goldstein Herrmann haibrbolikali considered it "one of the most important masters theses ever written," it changed the circuit design from art to science.
Neil Sloane, a mathematician "Bell Labs" retirees as well as associate editor Shannon collection papers, founder of the online encyclopedia "of the sequence right," agreed. "Of course, the main work was Shannon in communication theory, without which we will not disappear in wait for telegrams," Sloan said. But the circuit design, and it seemed that the great love Shannon. "It was a little habitat. He liked tinkering. "
For example, Shannon Brown machine that did arithmetic with Roman numerals, naming throwback I, "Thrifty" successor of Roman numeral looking "computer". Bani trumpet and frisbee newspaper powered by rockets. Human beings playing chess, having moved its opponent, witty remarks. Inspired by the late Marvin Minsky's artificial intelligence pioneer, he designed what was dubbed the "ultimate machine":
flick the switch to "on" and opens with a mechanical hand out square, clicks and switch back to "off" and back down inside the box. Home Shannon, in Winchester, Massachusetts (entropy House and called it), was filled with his tools, and idiosyncratic unicycles mnzlhalwardh garage at least thirty-one without pedals, one with square frames, single bike especially confounding built for two.
Among the questions that sought to answer,What is the smallest unicycle can ride anyone? "I had a few small very slightly," Alwyn ber likam, Professor Emeritus of mathematics at Berkeley and author of a recent paper co-Shannon, Shannon told me. ber likam Committee sat on the thesis at MIT, and in return asked bar likam to teach him how to juggle with four balls.
"He claimed that his hands were too small, which was true — they were smaller than most people — had trouble holding four balls to start," ber likam said. But Shannon succeeded in mastering this technique, is the continuation of investigations with his dolomite. "He was hacking reality," digital philosopher said Amber situation.
By 1960, however, such as the hand of the God of cunning, Shannon stepped back. No longer participated greatly in the field that it had established, rarely published. Yet he's still missing, which at the time could be spent cultivating a great reputation that scholars of stature tend to seek.
In 1973, christened the Institute of electrical and Electronics Engineers Award Shanon BEM NH that man himself, in "International Symposium" on information theory in Ashkelon, Israel. Shannon a bad case of nerves, but he pulled himself together and gave a lecture on fine reflexes, and then fell off the scene again.
In 1985, in "International Symposium" in Brighton, England, Shannon award went to the University of California, the southern sound Golomb. As the story goes, Golomb began his lecture by recounting the nightmare of last night: he was dreaming about delivering his presentation, which should turn up on the front row but Claude Shannon. And then, there in the flesh and Golomb in the front row was Shannon.
Appearance (including a bit of sh ouze fi banquet) was talking about the seminar, but he never again attended.
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