"To most people, the word “information” suggests meaning and reality. To the communication engineer, it is the problem of getting a wave form from one point to another or, more simply, a series of letters, or, simpler still, a series of zeros and ones."
- Claude Shannon
"Vannevar Bush and the Differential Analyzer." Aquision talk. No date.
At MIT, Shannon studied with Vannevar Bush, inventor of the 1930s Differential Analyzer that took one week to solve differential equations. Proficient in electrical engineering and mathematics, Shannon was well-suited to operate the Differential Analyzer.
Shannon observed that this machine’s switches had two positions, open or closed. He alluded to mathematician George Boole’s mid-1800s discovery that all equations could be represented with binary numbers. Both switches and binary numbers have two possibilities. Shannon, the first to identify this connection, made this the topic of his award-winning 1938 master’s thesis. Shannon confirmed that anything could be communicated more efficiently through binary.
"25-year-old Shannon in NYC". Bit Player. Ca. 1941.
"Youthful Instructor Wins Noble Award". The New York Times. 1940.
""ENIAC Components on Exhibit in Information Age." Smithsonian Institute. No date.