Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Pitt, in collaboration with the School of Computing and Information, presents The Bit Player, a new film by award-winning director Mark Levinson. In a blockbuster paper in 1948, Claude Shannon introduced the world to the “bit” and laid the foundation for the information age. The impact would be incredibly far reaching, influencing such diverse fields as communication, linguistics, genetics, computing, cryptography, neuroscience, artificial intelligence and cosmology.

Shannon also constructed a mathematical theory of juggling, rode unicycles, wrote the first paper on computer chess and built a flaming trumpet! The Bit Player, directed by Mark Levinson (Particle Fever), combines interviews with leading scientists, archival film, inventive animation and compelling commentary from Shannon himself to tell the story of an overlooked genius who revolutionized the world, but never lost his childlike curiosity.  

Professor Martin Weiss of the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information will give opening remarks. This event is open to the University community.