Editing Claude Shannon (section)

===Childhood===
The Shannon family lived in [[Gaylord, Michigan]], and Claude was born in a hospital that was nearby [[Petoskey, Michigan|Petoskey]].<ref name="bmfrs"/> His father, Claude Sr. (1862–1934), was a businessman and, for a while, a judge of [[probate]] in [[Gaylord, Michigan|Gaylord]]. His mother, Mabel Wolf Shannon (1880–1945), was a language teacher, who also served as the principal of [[Gaylord High School]].{{sfnp|Sloane|Wyner|1993|p=xi}} Claude Sr. was a descendant of [[Colonial history of New Jersey|New Jersey settlers]], while Mabel was a child of German immigrants.<ref name="bmfrs"/> Shannon's family was active in their Methodist Church during his youth.<ref name="Soni Goodman 2017 p. 6">{{cite book | last1=Soni | first1=J. | last2=Goodman | first2=R. | title=A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age | publisher=Simon & Schuster | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-4767-6668-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gygsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA6 | access-date=2023-05-02 | page=6}}</ref>

Most of the first 16 years of Shannon's life were spent in Gaylord, where he attended public school, graduating from Gaylord High School in 1932. Shannon showed an inclination towards mechanical and electrical things. His best subjects were science and mathematics. At home, he constructed such devices as models of planes, a radio-controlled model boat and a barbed-wire [[telegraph]] system to a friend's house a half-mile away.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/30/magazine/the-lives-they-lived-claude-shannon-b-1916-bit-player.html|title=THE LIVES THEY LIVED: CLAUDE SHANNON, B. 1916; Bit Player|first=James|last=Gleick|date=December 30, 2001|journal=The New York Times Magazine|page=Section 6, Page 48|author-link=James Gleick}}</ref> While growing up, he also worked as a messenger for the [[Western Union]] company.

Shannon's childhood hero was [[Thomas Edison]], who he later learned was a distant cousin. Both Shannon and Edison were descendants of [[John Ogden (colonist)|John Ogden]] (1609–1682), a colonial leader and an ancestor of many distinguished people.<ref name="MIT obituary">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/shannon.html|title=MIT Professor Claude Shannon dies; was founder of digital communications|website=MIT News office|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|date=February 27, 2001}}</ref><ref name="sloane-wyner93">{{cite book| title=Claude Elwood Shannon: Collected Papers | editor1-first=N.J.A | editor1-last=Sloane | editor2-first=Aaron D. | editor2-last=Wyner | publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons|Wiley]]/[[IEEE Press]] | isbn=978-0-7803-0434-5 | date=1993 | url=http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0780304349.html | access-date=December 9, 2016 }}</ref>