Shannon contributed to the field of cryptanalysis for national defense of the United States during World War II, including his fundamental work on codebreaking and secure telecommunications, writing a paper which is considered one of the foundational pieces of modern cryptography,[14] with his work described as "a turning point, and marked the closure of classical cryptography and the beginning of modern cryptography."[15] The work of Shannon is the foundation of secret-key cryptography, including the work of Horst Feistel, the Data Encryption Standard (DES), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), and more.[15] As a result, Shannon has been called the "founding father of modern cryptography".[16]
His mathematical theory of communication laid the foundations for the field of information theory,[17][12] with his famous paper being called the "Magna Carta of the Information Age" by Scientific American,[6][18] along with his work being described as being at "the heart of today's digital information technology".[19]Robert G. Gallager referred to the paper as a "blueprint for the digital era".[20] Regarding the influence that Shannon had on the digital age, Solomon W. Golomb remarked "It's like saying how much influence the inventor of the alphabet has had on literature."[17] Shannon's theory is widely used and has been fundamental to the success of many scientific endeavors, such as the invention of the compact disc, the development of the Internet, feasibility of mobile phones, the understanding of black holes, and more, and is at the intersection of numerous important fields.[21][22] Shannon also formally introduced the term "bit".[23][7]
Shannon made numerous contributions to the field of artificial intelligence,[2] writing papers on programming a computer for chess, which have been immensely influential.[24][25] His Theseus machine was the first electrical device to learn by trial and error, being one of the first examples of artificial intelligence.[26][27] He also co-organized and participated in the Dartmouth workshop of 1956, considered the founding event of the field of artificial intelligence.[28][29]
Rodney Brooks declared that Shannon was the 20th century engineer who contributed the most to 21st century technologies,[26] and Solomon W. Golomb described the intellectual achievement of Shannon as "one of the greatest of the twentieth century".[30] His achievements are considered to be on par with those of Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin.[5][17][4][31]
^ abPoundstone, William (2005). Fortune's Formula : The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting System That Beat the Casinos and Wall Street. Hill & Wang. p. 20. ISBN978-0-8090-4599-0.