# Claude Shannon **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [April 30, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886 "2016-04-30T14:58:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JJuggle](https://unicyclist.com/user_avatar/unicyclist.com/jjuggle/32/9_2.png) [@JJuggle](https://unicyclist.com/u/JJuggle)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/1 "2016-04-30T14:58:33Z")
How about that Claude Shannon, founding member of the Unicycling Society of America, Bell Labs researcher, MIT professor, and father of information science who would have been one hundred today? Can we get a whoot whoot for the man? ---
**Author:** ![harper](https://unicyclist.com/user_avatar/unicyclist.com/harper/32/41_2.png) [@harper](https://unicyclist.com/u/harper)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/2 "2016-04-30T15:00:47Z")
Yo, Shannon, you da man. I just finished Portnoy’s Complaint and was thinking about you, Raphael. ---
**Author:** ![JJuggle](https://unicyclist.com/user_avatar/unicyclist.com/jjuggle/32/9_2.png) [@JJuggle](https://unicyclist.com/u/JJuggle)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/3 "2016-04-30T16:20:50Z")
> [@harper](#): > > Yo, Shannon, you da man. > > I just finished Portnoy’s Complaint and was thinking about you, Raphael. I’m really not that fond of liver, dude. ---
**Author:** ![pwest](https://unicyclist.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/b5ac83/32.png) [@pwest](https://unicyclist.com/u/pwest)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/4 "2016-04-30T16:26:53Z")
For a long time now, I’ve been looking for a good picture/poster of him riding his uni, but never found one. ---
**Author:** ![OneTrackMind](https://unicyclist.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/o/b2d939/32.png) [@OneTrackMind](https://unicyclist.com/u/OneTrackMind)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/5 "2016-05-01T15:45:24Z")
Shannon, you crazy diamond. ---
**Author:** ![harper](https://unicyclist.com/user_avatar/unicyclist.com/harper/32/41_2.png) [@harper](https://unicyclist.com/u/harper)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 5:48pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/6 "2016-05-01T17:48:26Z")
> [@JJuggle](#): > > I’m really not that fond of liver, dude. Being a vegetarian does that to a guy. ---
**Author:** ![JJuggle](https://unicyclist.com/user_avatar/unicyclist.com/jjuggle/32/9_2.png) [@JJuggle](https://unicyclist.com/u/JJuggle)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 5:49am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/7 "2016-05-02T05:49:43Z")
> [@pwest](#): > > For a long time now, I’ve been looking for a good picture/poster of him riding his uni, but never found one. I work at Bell Labs as a librarian and to the best of my knowledge there are no publicly available pictures of Shannon unicycling. There aren’t any in our photograph archives. I suspect his family may have some private photos, but I don’t know of any out there. I don’t recall seeing any in old Unicycling Society of America newsletters either. As an aside, at the Bell Labs celebration of Shannon’s centenary this past week, a researcher named Brian Cort rode his 3 wheeled giraffe made by Tom Miller (The Unicycle Factory). ---
**Author:** ![JJuggle](https://unicyclist.com/user_avatar/unicyclist.com/jjuggle/32/9_2.png) [@JJuggle](https://unicyclist.com/u/JJuggle)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/8 "2016-05-02T05:51:07Z")
> [@harper](#): > > Being a vegetarian does that to a guy. Tell me about it. ---
**Author:** ![LargeEddie](https://unicyclist.com/user_avatar/unicyclist.com/largeeddie/32/3724_2.png) [@LargeEddie](https://unicyclist.com/u/LargeEddie)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/9 "2016-05-04T18:16:54Z")
And I see that the favorite horse leading into the Kentucky Derby is named “Nyquist.” Couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? ---
**Author:** ![johnfoss](https://unicyclist.com/user_avatar/unicyclist.com/johnfoss/32/85_2.png) [@johnfoss](https://unicyclist.com/u/johnfoss)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/10 "2016-05-11T19:21:51Z")
Sorry I missed this thread when it was originally current. Happy 100th! We will not forget you. > [@JJuggle](#): > > I work at Bell Labs as a librarian and to the best of my knowledge there are no publicly available pictures of Shannon unicycling. There aren’t any in our photograph archives. I suspect his family may have some private photos, but I don’t know of any out there. I don’t recall seeing any in old Unicycling Society of America newsletters either. Nope, no pix in the old USA Newsletters. In fact, USA founder and original Newsletter Editor Bill Jenack didn’t do much coverage of those founding members; some were more directly connected to the organization than others. I got to meet Claude in 1983 at the IJA Convention in Purchase, NY. No unicycling then; he was displaying a “3d animation” of a clown juggling 3 clubs. That is, he had an old record player, a strobe light, and a dozen or so little models of clowns with clubs and arms in various positions, spaced around the turntable. With the strobe light tuned to the right speed, they all juggled their clubs. At different speeds, they would move forward or backward around the turntable. Sorry, nothing digital there. 🙂 I recognized his name from the USA Founders list and spent some time talking to him, but at that time I did not know the significance of his theories on information. Now we all use them, all day long! Even reading this forum! I figured I’d see him again around the convention (it was the first day), but I didn’t, and never took any pictures. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Vertigo](https://unicyclist.com/user_avatar/unicyclist.com/vertigo/32/3825_2.png) [@Vertigo](https://unicyclist.com/u/Vertigo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 10:01pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/11 "2018-08-13T22:01:17Z")
[Information, Reimagined](https://www.americanscientist.org/article/information-reimagined) ![](https://unicyclist.com/uploads/default/original/3X/f/0/f0c630e1f12b8de1129b8d48ba5403b4028af22a.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![OneTrackMind](https://unicyclist.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/o/b2d939/32.png) [@OneTrackMind](https://unicyclist.com/u/OneTrackMind)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 4:57am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/12 "2018-08-14T04:57:06Z")
> [@Vertigo](#): > > [Information, Reimagined](https://www.americanscientist.org/article/information-reimagined) Excellent reading. ---
**Author:** ![fuxo](https://unicyclist.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@fuxo](https://unicyclist.com/u/fuxo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 8:41am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/13 "2018-08-14T08:41:21Z")
After spending a decent amount of time studying Shannon’s work during my degree, I am amazed that he was an unicyclist. Is there any list of famous unicyclist somewhere? I would be very happy to know some others. ---
**Author:** ![JimT](https://unicyclist.com/user_avatar/unicyclist.com/jimt/32/3953_2.png) [@JimT](https://unicyclist.com/u/JimT)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 11:28am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/14 "2018-08-14T11:28:03Z")
> [@fuxo](#): > > After spending a decent amount of time studying Shannon’s work during my degree, I am amazed that he was an unicyclist. Is there any list of famous unicyclist somewhere? I would be very happy to know some others. Here are a few: > [@Famous Unicyclists](https://unicyclist.com//t/famous-unicyclists/40769/1): > > Does anybody know if any famous people ride unicycles?? For example, Does Sunny, or Share ride one? If you know of any, please tell us, or at least me!!! Chris Cline MUni-Cow ---
**Author:** ![johnfoss](https://unicyclist.com/user_avatar/unicyclist.com/johnfoss/32/85_2.png) [@johnfoss](https://unicyclist.com/u/johnfoss)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 11:10pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/15 "2018-08-17T23:10:48Z")
> [@Vertigo](#): > > [Information, Reimagined](https://www.americanscientist.org/article/information-reimagined)That article gives a little more insight into what Dr. Claude Shannon did during his life. The “juggling machine” that gets mentioned, may very well be that record player with the little juggling clown statues on it (described in an earlier post). It certainly wasn’t a machine that threw and caught loose objects! > > Also I noticed that the author of the article is a professor emeritus at the University of South Alabama. This was the site of the 1989 Unicycling Society of America Nationals. Hosted by Seth Granberry and the Mobile Unicyclists. At this convention was the first-ever off-road race (Muni-ish) of any USA convention. About a 1-mile XC course from the track across grass, curbs and through a lightly wooded area. I designed the course. 🙂 > > ![](https://unicyclist.com/uploads/default/original/3X/f/0/f0c630e1f12b8de1129b8d48ba5403b4028af22a.jpeg) That’s a nice looking Big Wheel! I wonder if it belonged to Dr. Shannon, who made it, and when that photo was taken. ---
**Author:** ![Vertigo](https://unicyclist.com/user_avatar/unicyclist.com/vertigo/32/3825_2.png) [@Vertigo](https://unicyclist.com/u/Vertigo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 3:00pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/16 "2018-08-18T15:00:19Z")
There are more photos in [10,000 Hours with Claude Shannon: How A Genius Thinks, Works and Lives](https://medium.com/the-mission/10-000-hours-with-claude-shannon-12-lessons-on-life-and-learning-from-a-genius-e8b9297bee8f). ---
**Author:** ![jcdoherty](https://unicyclist.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/5f8ce5/32.png) [@jcdoherty](https://unicyclist.com/u/jcdoherty)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 4:24am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/17 "2018-08-19T04:24:38Z")
Thanks for the link Vertigo, very interesting article. Jim ---
**Author:** ![JJuggle](https://unicyclist.com/user_avatar/unicyclist.com/jjuggle/32/9_2.png) [@JJuggle](https://unicyclist.com/u/JJuggle)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 5:48pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/claude-shannon/124886/18 "2019-12-30T17:48:27Z")
I’m currently reading the biography of Shannon, A Mind at Play, published in 2017. Truthfully, aside from his interest in circus arts, Shannon’s work is vastly more interesting than his life was. That is not always the case with people who have contributed extraordinary insights. But it is with Shannon, in my opinion. Still having learned the exact address of his apartment in Greenwich Village, 51 W 11th St, where another Claude, Levi-Strauss was his neighbor, and actually around the block from my childhood pediatrician, up the block from a famous ‘60s explosion, and a couple of blocks west of where my grandfather had a sweatshop in the 1910s, I felt compelled to pay the building a visit. Shannon would have gazed out from where the air conditioners are. ![51W11th.jpg](https://unicyclist.com/uploads/default/original/3X/e/6/e6b2034de3093d9a7e6bc473cdb4d6f082290dfb.jpeg)