caption doctoral_advisor death_date death_place birth_place awards image_size nationality fields workplaces doctoral_students birth_date residence image article_title name alma_mater
claude elwood shannon -lrb- 1916 -- 2001 -rrb- frank lauren hitchcock 24 february 2001 medford , massachusetts , u.s. petoskey , michigan , u.s. stuart honor -lrb- 1966 -rrb- national medal of science -lrb- 1966 ballantine -rrb- harvey prize -lrb- 1972 -rrb- claude e. shannon award medal -lrb- 1972 -rrb- harold pender award -lrb- 1978 -rrb- john -lrb- fritz medal -lrb- 1983 -rrb- kyoto prize -lrb- 1985 -rrb- 1955 national inventors hall of fame -lrb- 2004 -rrb- -rrb- ieee medal of 200px american mathematics and electronic engineering bell labs mit institute for advanced study danny hillis ivan sutherland bert sutherland heinrich arnold ernst 30 april 1916 united states claude elwood shannon -lrb- 1916-2001 -rrb- . jpg claude shannon
 claude shannon university of michigan mit
claude shannon

claude elwood shannon -lrb- april 30 , 1916 -- february 24 , 2001 -rrb- was an american mathematician , electronic engineer , and cryptographer known as `` the father of information theory '' .
shannon is famous for having founded information theory with a landmark paper that he published in 1948 .
he is perhaps equally well-known for founding both digital computer and digital circuit design theory in 1937 , when , as a 21-year-old master 's degree student at the massachusetts institute of technology -lrb- mit -rrb- , he wrote his thesis demonstrating that electrical applications of boolean algebra could construct any logical , numerical relationship .
shannon contributed to the field of cryptanalysis for national defense during world war ii , including his basic work on codebreaking and secure telecommunications .
