Legacy

From Telephones to Chess: How Claude Shannon Communicated Through Machines



Legacy
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Rowin, Stanley. “Claude E. Shannon”. IEEE Spectrum. No date.

"The important people and events of history are the thinkers and innovators — the Darwins, Newtons, and Beethovens whose work continues to grow in influence in a positive fashion."
- Claude Shannon

Shannon's Later Inventions

"THROBAC (Thrifty Roman Numeral Backwards-Looking Computer)." MIT Museum. 2007.

"Bounce Juggler." MIT Museum. 2007.

"Remote Bus." MIT Museum. 2007.

"Since retiring from MIT, I have been getting into all kinds of mischief, for instance, trying to become a poet."
- Claude Shannon

"Claude Shannon filming for CBS telecast 'The Thinking Machine'. " MIT Museum. No date.

Claude Shannon rarely credited himself. His priority was his research, not his legacy. His world-changing discoveries, made from his genuine enjoyment, curiosity, and motivation to keep learning, set the course for present-day digital communication. Digital refers to using binary, something Shannon caused all future devices to do. Crucial to all of software engineering, Shannon’s information theory currently enables cybersecurity, cloud storage, secure network coding, machine learning, and wireless broadband communication, also known as the internet. 

Shannon, struggling with Alzheimer’s, died on February 24, 2001. In 2016, 100 years after his birth, Google honored Shannon with this animated image.


"Claude Shannon’s 100th birthday." Google. April 30, 2016.

• New York City History Day Senior Website Division First Place  •

• New York State History Day Senior Website Division Finalist  • 

• ​​​​​​​Marisa Triola  • Senior Division  • 

• ​​​​​​​Individual Website  • Website Word Count: 1200  • 

• Media Time: 2:57  • Process Paper Word Count: 500 ​​​​​​​• ​​​​​​​