In 1948, C.E. Shannon published an article titled "The Mathematical Theory of Communication," which quickly became known as Information Theory. IT made it possible to determine the theoretical limit of any channel's information-carrying capacity. Using IT as a mathematical benchmark, engineers were finally able to provide efficient, error-free transmission over noisy channels. IT also made possible the development of digital systems, which handle information ? voice, data video ? in streams of coded pulses. Without Information Theory, the Web would not exist.

Four years after he published his ground-breaking theory, Shannon invented an electrical mouse with a telephone relay switch brain. Its ability to find its way through a maze demonstrated that computers could learn, a startling revelation to those who, until then, had used them only as giant adding machines.