The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation (56 page)

27 Claude Shannon, oral history with Robert Price, IEEE.

28 “We had an internal distribution system,” recalls a Bell Labs mathematician, Brock McMillan, who worked in the office next to Shannon’s at Murray Hill at the time. “So people in the math department could read things before publication. Shannon was not particularly talkative. He talked to us about his theories maybe a little bit. But that 1948 paper caught me almost stone cold.” Most of the Bell researchers, with the exception of Shannon’s friend Barney Oliver, experienced a similar sense of shock. John Pierce likened the surprise he felt upon encountering his friend’s ideas to the dropping of a powerful explosive.

29 Shannon, Kyoto Prize speech.

30 Robert Lucky,
Silicon Dreams: Information, Man, and Machine
(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991).

31 “Information Theory,” from Shannon’s article on the topic in
Encyclopedia Britannica,
14th ed., 1968.

32 John Robinson Pierce, quoted in M. Mitchell Waldrop, “Claude Shannon: Reluctant Father of the Digital Age,”
Technology Review
, January 7, 2002. For my explication of information theory, I owe a debt to a number of people who have written on Shannon’s theory: John Pierce, Warren Weaver, David Kahn, Robert Gallager, Bob Lucky, Neil Sloane, Aaron Wyner, John Horgan, Wiliam Poundstone, and Erico Marui Guizzo. Before me, Pierce, Poundstone, and Guizzo also made the insightful point juxtaposing the reduction of redundancy in cryptanalysis with the addition of redundancy in coding. Finally, Shannon was especially eloquent on the genesis and meaning of his own work in his speeches throughout the 1950s, which were rich with metaphors to explain his ideas; in his interviews with Robert Price and Anthony Liversidge; and (later still) in his Kyoto prize speech in 1985.

33 Richard Hamming and David Slepian are most often credited for their work on these codes.

34 Waldrop, “Claude Shannon: Reluctant Father of the Digital Age.” As Bob Gallager at MIT points out, communications engineers (Fano included) had long understood that errors could be reduced by increasing the power of a transmission and/or increasing the channel capacity—that is, the “bandwidth” through which transmissions moved. Shannon’s great breakthrough was in showing that they could reduce errors without doing either.

35 Shannon,
Collected Papers
; Lucky,
Silicon Dreams
, p. 37.

36 Claude Shannon, letter to Francis Bello at
Fortune
. Shannon Collection, Library of Congress.

37 Hamming complained about this in an unpublished oral history.

38 The supervisor was John Pierce, whose work is detailed later in this book. The anecdote comes from Henry Landau, a former Bell Labs mathematician. Author interview.

39 William Shockley, interviewed by Harriet Zuckerman, 1964, as part of her larger study of the research careers of Nobel laureates in the sciences, Columbia Oral History Research Office. See Harriet Zuckerman,
Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United States
(New York: Free Press, 1977), and the enlarged edition (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press, 1996). Quoted by permission of Dr. Zuckerman.

40 John R. Pierce, “Mervin Joe Kelly: 1894–1971,” National Academy of Sciences, Biographical Memoirs, 1975.

41 C. Chapin Cutler, oral history, IEEE. This point was also made to me in an interview with William Keefauver, a former patent attorney at the Labs.

42 Liversidge, “Profile of Claude Shannon.” When asked, “Can Bell Labs take credit to some extent for your achievement?” Shannon answered, “I think so. If I had been in another company, more aimed at a particular goal, I wouldn’t have had the freedom to work that way.”

43 Walter Brattain conceded this in a 1963 oral history interview with Harriet Zuckerman, Columbia University Oral History Research Office.

44 Toby Berger,
Claude Shannon, Father of the Information Age,
directed and written by Doug Ramsey, produced by Ramsey and Mike Weber;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Whj_nL-x8
.

1
Shannon Collection, Library of Congress.

2
Claude E. Shannon, “Programming a Computer for Playing Chess,” March 9, 1949,
Collected Papers
, edited by N. J. A. Sloane and Aaron D. Wyner (New York: IEEE Press/John Wiley & Sons, 1993).

3
Claude Shannon, Kyoto Prize acceptance speech, 1985. Shannon Collection, Library of Congress.

4
It was actually built of Meccano parts, rather than Erector Set parts, purchased at the Hudson Dobson store in New York City.

5
Brock McMillan, author interview.

6
William Keefauver, former Bell Labs patent attorney, author interview.

7
“Mouse with a Memory,”
Time
, May 19, 1952.

8
Claude Shannon, letter to Miss Irene Angus, August 8, 1952. Shannon Collection, Library of Congress.

9
Mervin Kelly to Ralph Bown, March 24, 1950. Shannon Collection, Library of Congress.

10 Walter B. Smith to Dr. M. J. Kelly, May 4, 1951. Shannon papers, Library of Congress.

11 Francis Bello,
Fortune
, December 1953.

12 Claude E. Shannon, “Game Playing Machines,” 1955, in
Collected Papers.

13 THROBAC stands for “THrifty ROman numeral BAckward-looking Computer.” Shannon later admitted that the name (and to some extent the calculator itself) was inspired by the era’s computer acronyms—ENIAC, UNIVAC, and so on. Unlike some of Shannon’s other machines, which are now owned by the MIT Museum, his original “ultimate machine,” with the mechanical hand, has been lost, according to his wife, Betty.

14 Shannon, “Game Playing Machines,” 1955,
Collected Papers.

15 It was unclear, fifty years after the fact, which game Slepian was singling out. It may have been Shannon’s version of the complex game Hex.

16 Robert Lucky,
Silicon Dreams: Information, Man, and Machine
(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989), p. 51.

17 Claude Shannon to H. W. Bode, October 3, 1956. Shannon Collection, Library of Congress.

18 Claude Shannon, oral history conducted in July 1982 by Robert Price, IEEE History Center, New Brunswick, NJ..

19 Shannon Collection, Library of Congress.

20 “I hear via my daughter and your son that you’ve bought a Volkswagen microbus and are going to California.” Edward Moore, letter to Claude Shannon, February 26, 1957. Shannon Collection, Library of Congress.

21 Shannon’s work on cryptography with the NSA probably did not continue beyond the 1960s. Even in the 1980s, though, he was forbidden to speak of it—a hallmark of the secrecy obligations that involve any type of work with the NSA. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request by this book’s author, the NSA responded that “Dr. Shannon was never an affiliate of NSA. He was, however, involved as a consultant to
NSA as a member of various committees.” Documents demonstrate that while Shannon was still at Bell Labs he was at least involved with the Mathematics Panel of the National Security Agency Scientific Advisory Board (NSASAB). When asked by Bob Price during an oral history many years later about his National Security Agency contributions, Shannon replied, “I was a consultant. I probably should … I don’t know … I think, I don’t know that I have any … even though this was a long time ago, I’d better not talk about …” Claude Shannon, oral history with Robert Price, IEEE.

22 Claude Shannon, letter to James R. Newman, April 9, 1958. Shannon Collection, Library of Congress.

23 Bob Lucky, author interview.

1
“Dr. Kelly Visits Technical Groups in Europe,”
Bell Laboratories Record
, June 1950.

2
Mervin Kelly, letter to Ralph Bown, March 24, 1950. Shannon Collection, Library of Congress.

3
Mervin J. Kelly, “The Bell Telephone Laboratories—An Example of an Institute of Creative Technology,” March 23, 1950. AT&T archives.

4
It is by all means possible that a Bell Labs scientist used the word “innovation” before 1958. However, in a review of thousands of Bell Labs documents and hundreds of speeches from the 1950s, the first instance I came across was in a speech by Jack Morton, “Some Thoughts About the Future,” at the tenth anniversary of the transistor, June 17, 1958. “In the past,” Morton remarked, “American industry has led the world because we have used existing knowledge with ingenuity, energy and innovation.” Perhaps simultaneously, John R. Pierce began using the word, too. “Innovation in Technology,” an essay by Pierce, appeared in the September 1958 issue of
Scientific American
. Moreover, a draft of a paper of Pierce’s later titled “Myths of Creation,” dated September 10, 1958, was originally titled “On Innovation in Science.”

5
Ernest Braun and Stuart Macdonald,
Revolution in Miniature: The History and Impact of Semiconductor Electronics
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), p. 33.

6
John Rowell, author interview.

7
Some of the most acclaimed Bell Labs scientists would often stand amazed by the talents of their technical assistants. For Morris Tanenbaum, for instance, it was Ernie Buehler, who was adept at growing crystals.

8
Phil Anderson, author interview.

9
Sara Silver, “With Uncertain Future, Bell Labs Turns to Commerce,”
Wall Street Journal
, August 21, 2006.

10 Mervin J. Kelly,
Bell Telephone Magazine
, Summer 1953.

11 William T. Golden, “Conversations with Drs. Oppenheimer, Robert Bacher, and Charles Lauritsen,” Memorandum for the file, December 21, 1950. “We commented on the volume of his [Kelly’s] work and they said that he seems to be working himself to death although he does not look as badly they said as he did during the war.” Golden’s search for a presidential science advisor involved numerous interviews with Kelly and his peers—Oppenheimer, DuBridge, and so forth. These interviews are chronicled in his contemporaneous memoranda, available at
http://archives.aaas.org/golden
.

12 Interview of Katherine Kelly by Lillian Hoddeson, July 2, 1976, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD;
www.aip.org/history/ohilist
.

13 Author visit to 2 Widemere Terrace, Short Hills, New Jersey.

14 Joe Parisi, the Kellys’ former gardener, author interview.

15 Interview of Katherine Kelly by Lillian Hoddeson, AIP.

16 Eugene Gordon, author interview.

17 William T. Golden, Memorandum for the file, December 19, 1950. “[H]e is next in line to become President upon the expected retirement of Dr. Oliver Buckley in about a year and a half. It was completely clear to me, in fact, Buckley said so, that Kelly is the man to succeed him.”

18 William T. Golden, oral history, 1989, conducted by Niel M. Johnson. Truman Library;
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/oralhist/goldenw.htm
.

19 John R. Pierce, “Mervin Joe Kelly: 1894–1971,” National Academy of Sciences, Biographical Memoir, 1975.

20 Ibid.

21 William T. Golden, Executive Office of the President, Memorandum for the file, December 4, 1950: “Kelly spends about one quarter of his time on the United States Air Force research and development matters … another one quarter of his time on various Government matters … [t]he remaining half of his time is devoted to Bell Tel Laboratories.” American Association for the Advancement of Science, History and Archives.

22 William T. Golden, oral history, 1989.

23 William T. Golden, memoranda. Golden wrote on December 19, 1950, “It is clear that Kelly would be a most excellent man for scientific adviser to the President in view of the practicality and directness of his approach, his comprehensive knowledge of the military services, and his wide experience in various phases of research and development matters. … It is also clear that he does not want the job, that he is most certainly an empire builder, that it would be a sacrifice to him in terms of his status at the Bell Tel. Labs where he is next in line to become president upon the expected retirement of Dr. Oliver Buckley in about a year and a half.”

24 Anthony Lewis, “A.T.&T. Settles Antitrust Case; Shares Patents,”
New York Times,
January 25, 1956.

25 Leroy Wilson, letter to David E. Lilienthal, Chairman, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, July 1, 1949. “It is my understanding that you have discussed with Mr. Clark, the Attorney General. … I also understand that you intend to acquaint the President with the situation.” AT&T archives.

26 Necah Stewart Furman,
Sandia National Laboratories: The Postwar Decade
(Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1990).

27 “Pertinent Information—Sandia,” AEC memo, May 17, 1949. AT&T archives.

28 Furman,
Sandia National Laboratories: The Postwar Decade
.

29 Harry Truman, letter to Leroy A. Wilson, May 13, 1949. “I am writing a similar note direct to Dr. O. E. Buckley,” Truman noted. AT&T archives.

30 David E. Lilienthal, letter to Mervin J. Kelly, July 13, 1949. AT&T archives.

31 “Nike Added to Nation’s Defense Arsenal,”
Bell Laboratories Record
, February 1954.

32 Mervin Kelly, “The Contribution of Industrial Research to National Security,” paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Boston, December 29, 1953. AT&T archives.

33 These innovations included a radio technique called “tropospheric scatter” and “over-the-horizon” radio transmission.

34 Remarks by Dr. M. J. Kelly, “Before Bell System Lecturers’ Conference,” October 2, 1951. AT&T archives.

1
Francis Bello, “The Year of the Transistor,”
Fortune
, March 1953.

2
Ernest Braun and Stuart Macdonald sum up the military’s reasons concisely: “The military in the early fifties was not primarily concerned with price. Instead it was more concerned with such matters as availability, whether performance could match military specifications, and whether semiconductor devices would be reliable. … One considerable attraction of the new devices was the reduction in weight they offered,
both in the components themselves and in the batteries of power supplies required.” Ernest Braun and Stuart Macdonald,
Revolution in Miniature: The History and Impact of Semiconductor Electronics
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), p. 70.