Claude Elwood Shannon (1916 - 2001)

Born 30 Apr 1916 in Petoskey, Michigan, United States

Ancestors

Died 24 Feb 2001 at age 84 in Medford, Massachusetts, United States

Profile manager: Mike Greer [send private message]

Claude Shannon is notable. Join: Notables Project Discuss: notables

Claude Shannon was awarded the National Medal of Science.

Biography

Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001) was an American mathematician, electrical engineer, and cryptographer known as "the father of information theory". Shannon founded information theory with a landmark paper, "A Mathematical Theory of Communication", which he published in 1948.

Notable awards

Stuart Ballantine Medal (1955)

IEEE Medal of Honor (1966)

National Medal of Science (1966)

Harvey Prize (1972)

Claude E. Shannon Award (1972)

Harold Pender Award (1978)

John Fritz Medal (1983)

Kyoto Prize (1985)

National Inventors Hall of Fame (2004)

His father, Claude, Sr. (1862–1934), a descendant of early settlers of New Jersey, was a self-made businessman, and for a while, a Judge of Probate. Shannon's mother was Mabel Wolf Shannon (1890–1945)

Sources

• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZ7M-J9X : 2 February 2021), Claud Elwood Shannon in entry for Claud E Shannon, 1920.
• "United States Census, 1930", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQ1B-1J4 : accessed 30 April 2016), Claude E Shannon in entry for Claude E Shannon, 1930.
• National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for New Jersey, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 600
• "New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L94K-D4N6?cc=1923888&wc=MFKC-GZ9%3A1030215201 : 21 May 2014), 7916 - vol 17243-17245, Nov 17, 1950 > image 686 of 1483; citing NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/134231330/claude-elwood-shannon
• "Massachusetts Death Index, 1970-2003", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZRC-PXH : 13 June 2019), Claude E Shannon, 2001.
• "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVTS-WZJC : accessed 30 July 2021), Mathematician Claude Shannon, , ; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing Associated Press Archive, born-digital text.

Further Reading

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Shannon

• http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/claude-shannon-tinkerer-prankster-and-father-of-information-theory

• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/04/29/claude-shannon-the-juggling-father-of-the-information-age-who-co/

More Genealogy Tools