THE COMMUNICATION OF INFORMATION (An Historical Review)
E. Colin Cherry · 2016
In modern times a great deal of analysis has been made, directed toward the improvement of certain technical appara tus, in particular the telephone and radio systems. Much of this work is of a specialized mathematical character, but the implications are broad and have attracted the attentions of a wide audience. is the purpose of this article to illustrate the early historic origins of this theo retical work, but with little use of mathematical notation, and to show the relationships between the diverse interpretations of the word communication. Perhaps the simplest and broadest definition of the word communi cation is afforded by this statement: It is that which links any organ ism together. Here may mean two friends in conversation, newspapers and their reading public, a country and its postal service and telephone system. At another level it may refer to the nervous system of an animal, while at another may relate to a civilization and its culture. When ceases, the organism breaks up. But what is the commodity which is communicated? What is there truly in common between these scattered examples? These questions are extremely difficult to answer with precision, yet recent mathematical work is enabling such questions to be discussed in a scientific manner, quantitatively. must be emphasised, however, that this mathematical theory of communication is by no means complete and that, although it has proved to be particularly relevant to technical channels such as the telephone, radio, radar, and television, its inter pretation in broader fields of interest is relatively undeveloped and con troversial, yet at the same time intensely interesting.