Weaver, Warren

Weaver, Warren, 1894–1978, American scientist, b. Reedsburg, Wis., grad. Univ. of Wisconsin. He taught mathematics at Wisconsin (1920–32), was director of the division of natural sciences at the Rockefeller Institute (1932–55), and was science consultant (1947–51), trustee (1954), and vice president (from 1958) at the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. Weaver's chief researches were in the problems of communication in science and in the mathematical theory of probability. He was one of the founders of information theory, or communication theory. His writings include the preface to the seminal work in the field, Claude E. Shannon's The Mathematical Theory of Communication (1949).

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