Claude Shannon: Mathematician, Engineer, Genius…and Juggler?

The article discusses the work of Claude Shannon, a tenured member of the MIT faculty, who had a keen interest in juggling and its underlying physics. Shannon was particularly interested in combining two forms of juggling - bounce and toss - and even conducted an experiment where a juggler was suspended upside down to test this. Despite the experiment's failure, Shannon continued to explore the mathematical aspects of juggling, eventually developing a theorem to track the time and pattern of juggling. He also built a juggling robot from his Erector Set, further demonstrating his commitment to understanding the mechanics of juggling.

Key takeaways

Claude Shannon, a tenured member of the MIT faculty, was fascinated by juggling and dedicated scholarly time to studying it.
Shannon was interested in combining two forms of juggling—bounce and toss—and even conducted an experiment by suspending a juggler upside down.
Shannon wrote a mathematical paper on juggling, exploring its history and the psyche of a juggler, and also developed a juggling theorem.
He also built a juggling robot from his Erector Set, which was able to handle three balls, bouncing them off a tom-tom drum.

Claude Shannon: Mathematician, Engineer, Genius…and Juggler?

Key takeaways

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