Inspiration

From Telephones to Chess: How Claude Shannon Communicated Through Machines



Inspiration
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"Betty Shannon."  Scientific American. ​​​​​​​No Date

"A very small percentage of the population produces the greatest proportion of the important ideas."
- Claude Shannon

Mittman, Benjamin. "Betty and Claude Shannon with various instruments on display."  Computer History Museum. ​​​​​​​Ca. 1980.

Shannon’s older sister, Catherine, inspired him to pursue mathematics. Later, although independent, Shannon collaborated with and was guided by his wife, two mentors, and a friend. Betty Shannon shared interests with him including music, math, and tinkering. Betty often edited his papers and assisted with his creations. Betty wrote down Shannon’s thoughts, communicating them to the world. 

"[W]e’d come home from work, and we found some books of music that had two parts, and we’d enjoy playing together."
- Betty Shannon

Two mentors recognized Shannon’s talents, inspiring him to advance his skills. At MIT, Vannevar Bush and his differential analyzer inspired Shannon to begin working with binary. Thornton Fry hired Shannon at Bell Labs in 1941. Fry encouraged unstructured research, allowing Shannon to mathematically explore algorithms.

"Vannevar Bush with Differential Analyzer." MIT Museum. Ca. 1935.

"Alan Turing." Turing Archive. No date.

Shannon and his friend, Alan Turing, met at Bell Laboratories’ cafeteria in 1942. Challenged by each other’s research, Shannon took an interest in Turing's Universal Turing Machine concept, later writing a paper describing another way it could function.

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