A gross misappropriation that the modern world is likely
guilty of is to assume one’s professional capability as one’s own
identity. And this isn’t only because one
need not be limited by our professional avatar because we too often take our
masquerading avatar at workplace too seriously. Nearly everyone who reads this
piece is an engineer. But are you really one or you are masquerading to be one?
This book holds an introspective mirror if we are worthy of our professional
identity through the example of one of the world’s greatest scientist, Dr
Claude E Shannon (1916-2001).
One of my professor’s favourite line was, science is not a
profession. It is a way of life, which an individual is incapable of switching
it off at home and turning the fountain of creativity on at will. This book
captures the life of a genuine scientist, the joy de vivre associated with a
life in science. Shannon is considered as the father of information theory and
his contributions to modern day computer science are frequently compared with
the brilliant minds of Turing and Von Nuemann. Shannon’s 1948 papers on “A
mathematical theory of communication” is widely acknowledged as one of the
seminal works towards the creation of modern internet and credited with
starting a field on its own.
The book traces a biographical account of Shannon from his
early days in Michigan, rural southern USA, his parents influence on him and
extensively documents the various experiments of a young Shannon in high
school. Think of a Dexters Lab. No, seriously! Brick and mortar experiments,
not abstract experiments. As it becomes evident through the book, these science
experiments are a common recurring theme in Shannon’s life and help shape
Shannon, the genius of a scientist. There isn’t a serious Shannon divorced from
the playful experiments at the basement of his home. After a first failed
marriage to a leftist activist, Shannon marries Betty a technician at Bell labs
who remains his constant companion in all his work and even the various
wonderful experiments at his home. The author provides a vivid account of the
various experiments – elevators, automatic maze beating mouse, Theseus and an automatic chess playing
machine. Shannon truly is a scientist who does justice to the title of the
book, a mind at play.
The book leaves us with an impression of Shannon, a mind for
which the entire world is a playground and every problem but a puzzle. And he
did solve one of the world’s toughest problems of the era – the limits of
information theory. For most of us engineers, Shannon’s theorems are but a
passing chapter or another course in the syllabus. This book provides an
insight into the science and engineering of that era, the corresponding efforts
of other scientists and how in this background Shannon’s efforts are magnanimous.
Though one could argue there is a timelessness to Shannon’s work, the author’s
picture of the 1940s provides for a wonderful backdrop. With more scientific
knowledge and history of other scientists of the era, a more informed reader
than me, am sure will get much more from the book. Infact, I think many
scientists hold that the era of the Russell, Godel, Turing, Von Neumann,
Shannon et. Al. was one of the liveliest eras for computer science and math
punctuated with landmark results compressed within a short span.
This book leaves you wondering, are you really a scientist?
