Claude Shannon: His Work and Its Legacy

[摘要] The year 2016 marked the centennial of the birth ofClaude Elwood Shannon, that singular genius whose fertile mind gave birth to the field of information theory.In addition to providing a source of elegant and intriguing mathematical problems, this field has also had a profound impact on other fields of science and engineering,notably communications and computing, among manyothers. While the life of this remarkable man has beenrecounted elsewhere, in this article we seek to provide anoverview of his major scientific contributions and theirlegacy in today’s world. This is both an enviable and anunenviable task. It is enviable, of course, because it is awonderful story; it is unenviable because it would takevolumes to give this subject its due. Nevertheless, in thehope of providing the reader with an appreciation of theextent and impact of Shannon’s major works, we shall try.