Program to honor achievements of Gaylord native Claude Shannon

GAYLORD — His work laid the groundwork for the electronic communications networks that circle the Earth and helped jumpstart the fields of information theory and digital communications.

During World War II, he worked on secret wartime projects like cryptography, control systems for anti-aircraft missiles, and building a secure communications system that let Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt coordinate their wartime response.

Claude Shannon was a mathematician and computer scientist whose work not only changed lives in the 1930s and 1940s, but is responsible for many of the technological advances we enjoy today.

At 10 a.m. on April 22 at the Otsego County Historical Society on Main Street, Claude Shannon Day will celebrate the many accomplishments of a man who was raised in Gaylord.

He was born on April 30, 1916, at a hospital in Petoskey. His parents, Claude and Mabel, were well known in the Gaylord community.

"His father operated a furniture store that also included a funeral home which was typical back then," said Phil Alexander of the Otsego County Historical Society. "His mother was a high school teacher and also was principal of the school for a time."

Shannon graduated from Gaylord High School in 1932 at the age of 16. He continued his education at the University of Michigan where he had a double major in mathematics and electrical engineering.

"It was that combination that led to his research that laid the foundation for all of the digital stuff we enjoy today," said Alexander.

After graduating from U of M, Shannon went on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he earned a master's degree in electrical engineering and his Ph.D. in mathematics in 1940.

"In a prize-winning master's thesis completed in the department of mathematics (at MIT), Shannon proposed a method for applying a mathematical form of logic called Boolean algebra to the design of relay switching circuits. This innovation, credited as the advance that transformed circuit design 'from an art to a science,' remains the basis for circuit and chip design to this day," according to the website of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

In 1941, Shannon took a position at Bell Labs. His wartime work on secret communication systems was used to build the system over which Roosevelt and Churchill communicated during the war. When his results were finally de-classified and published in 1949, they revolutionized the field of cryptography, said the IEEE.

Shannon's father passed away in 1938 and his mother remained in the Gaylord area for a number of years. Alexander said Shannon came back to Gaylord occasionally to visit family and friends.

He was married twice, the second time to another mathematician named Betty Moore and they had three children.

"They worked as a team on a lot of research," noted Alexander.

In 1986, Shannon spoke at the commencement ceremony for Gaylord High School. In 2000, the statue of Shannon that now resides in the park named after him off of Main Street in the downtown was unveiled. By then Shannon was suffering from Alzheimer's and couldn't come to Gaylord but Betty did.

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There are six statues of Shannon and Betty said Claude insisted that the first one should be unveiled in his hometown. He died in 2001.

In addition to his academic achievements at Gaylord High School, Shannon was also known for juggling skills while riding a unicycle. In recognition of that talent, noted juggler Tommy Tropic will perform at the museum. Other activities will include a self-guided walking tour, displays and a showing of "The Bit Player," a documentary on Shannon.

— Contact Paul Welitzkin at pwelitzkin@gaylordheraldtimes.com.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Program to honor achievements of Gaylord native Claude Shannon