<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>In this paper I analyze the historical case of how Shannon’s theory of information, among other alternative theories, began to be applied rapidly and systematically within thermal physics in the 1950s. After evaluating this theory and the intellectual context in which it is inserted, I argue that it was not the formal-conceptual features of Shannon’s theory but the particular motivations of influential scientists such as von Neumann, Weaver and Wiener that properly made it possible for information science to become deeply rooted in thermal physics during the 1950s, as shown by the proposals of Brillouin and Jaynes.</p>
</abstract>

In this paper I analyze the historical case of how Shannon’s theory of information, among other alternative theories, began to be applied rapidly and systematically within thermal physics in the 1950s. After evaluating this theory and the intellectual context in which it is inserted, I argue that it was not the formal-conceptual features of Shannon’s theory but the particular motivations of influential scientists such as von Neumann, Weaver and Wiener that properly made it possible for information science to become deeply rooted in thermal physics during the 1950s, as shown by the proposals of Brillouin and Jaynes.

Under Shannon’s Bandwagon. Rethinking the Reception of Information Theory in Thermal Physics, 1948-1957

Departamento de Filosofía y Lógica y Filosofía de la Ciencia

HoST - Journal  of History of Science and Technology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

In this paper I analyze the historical case of how Shannon’s theory of information, among other alternative theories, began to be applied rapidly and...

Under Shannon’s Bandwagon. Rethinking the Reception of Information Theory in Thermal Physics, 1948-1957

Published Online: Jun 14, 2023

Page range: 17 - 38

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/host-2023-0003

Keywords
statistical mechanics, information theory, Claude Shannon, bandwagon, Brillouin

© 2023 Javier Anta, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Under Shannon’s Bandwagon. Rethinking the Reception of Information Theory in Thermal Physics, 1948-1957

Published Online: Jun 14, 2023

Page range: 17 - 38

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/host-2023-0003

Keywordsstatistical mechanics, information theory, Claude Shannon, bandwagon, Brillouin

© 2023 Javier Anta, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
statistical mechanics, information theory, Claude Shannon, bandwagon, Brillouin