Prodigy of probability
Norbert Wiener gained fame as the father of cybernetics, but his earlier work on statistical descriptions of complex systems may prove more important.
How wise are crowds?
By melding economics and engineering, researchers show that as social networks get larger, they usually get better at sorting fact from fiction.
Can you find me now?
By demonstrating fundamental limits on their accuracy, MIT researchers show how to improve wireless location-detection systems.
Rethinking networking
MIT researchers helped develop a theory that promised much more efficient data networks; then they were the first to put it into practice.
The power of ‘random’
A ‘seemingly loopy’ technique that MIT researchers helped develop could dramatically improve the efficiency of communications networks.
Jack Wozencraft, information theorist at MIT, 1925-2009
Jack Wozencraft, considered one of the pioneers of coding theory in the nascent field of information theory, died peacefully August 31, 2009.
Explained: Gallager codes
In 1993, scientists achieved the maximum rate for data transmission — only to find they’d been scooped 30 years earlier by an MIT grad student.
Explained: The Shannon limit
A 1948 paper by Claude Shannon SM ’37, PhD ’40 created the field of information theory — and set its research agenda for the next 50 years.