A Mathematical Theory of Communication

A Mathematical Theory of Communication
1949 full book edition
AuthorClaude E. Shannon
LanguageEnglish
SubjectCommunication theory
Publication date
1948
Publication placeUnited States

"A Mathematical Theory of Communication" is an article by mathematician Claude E. Shannon published in Bell System Technical Journal in 1948.[1][2][3][4] It was renamed The Mathematical Theory of Communication in the 1949 book of the same name,[5] a small but significant title change after realizing the generality of this work. It has tens of thousands of citations, being one of the most influential and cited scientific papers of all time,[6] as it gave rise to the field of information theory, with Scientific American referring to the paper as the "Magna Carta of the Information Age",[7] while the electrical engineer Robert G. Gallager called the paper a "blueprint for the digital era".[8] Historian James Gleick rated the paper as the most important development of 1948, placing the transistor second in the same time period, with Gleick emphasizing that the paper by Shannon was "even more profound and more fundamental" than the transistor.[9]

It is also noted that "as did relativity and quantum theory, information theory radically changed the way scientists look at the universe".[10] The paper also formally introduced the term "bit" and serves as its theoretical foundation.[11]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shannon_1948_1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shannon_1948_2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Ash, Robert B. (1966). Information Theory: Tracts in Pure & Applied Mathematics. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc. ISBN 0-470-03445-9.
  4. ^ Yeung, Raymond W. (2008). "The Science of Information". Information Theory and Network Coding. Springer. pp. 1–4. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-79234-7_1. ISBN 978-0-387-79233-0.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shannon_1949 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Yan, Zheng (2020). Publishing Journal Articles: A Scientific Guide for New Authors Worldwide. Cambridge New York, NY Port Melbourne New Delhi: Cambridge University Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-108-27742-6.
  7. ^ Goodman, Rob; Soni, Jimmy (2018). "Genius in Training". Alumni Association of the University of Michigan. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  8. ^ "Claude Shannon: Reluctant Father of the Digital Age". MIT Technology Review. 2001-07-01. Retrieved 2024-06-26.
  9. ^ Gleick, James (2011). The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood (1st ed.). New York: Vintage Books. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-1-4000-9623-7.
  10. ^ Watson, Peter (2018). Convergence: The Idea at the Heart of Science. New York London Toronto Sydney New Delhi: Simon & Schuster. p. 392. ISBN 978-1-4767-5434-5.
  11. ^ Nicolelis, Miguel A. L. (2020). The True Creator of Everything: How the Human Brain Shaped the Universe as We Know it. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-300-24463-2. OCLC 1090423259.