
Betty Shannon, Unsung Mathematical Genius (2017) - diodorus
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/betty-shannon-unsung-mathematical-genius/
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notacoward
I've seen enough stories like this to wonder how many more there are. How many
of the "great men" of scientific and technological history were great in part
due to "hidden partnerships" with spouses or others who aren't listed as co-
authors on papers and such? Seems like a book collecting a dozen or so such
stories would be a great read.

Note: this is not to deny any scientist or inventor any credit. Most of those
we celebrate deserve it. I'm just thinking there are even more great people we
should know about.

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caycep
Granted, I have seen other forms of this in creative partnerships, both
marriage and also non-marriage, where there is a creative dreamer and an
organizational genius.

n/naka, one of the best restaurants in LA here, is like that - the chef is a
totally disorganized "Dreamer" and her partner makes it happen

Greene and Greene, the architecture firm that designed the landmark Gamble
house, also appeared to operate like this, one brother was the creative
dreamer and the other was the business guru.

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adriantam
This is a story of the women behind a successful man. But no. Gender doesn't
matter. Look at some successful start-ups. You need a founder like Claude
Shannon to come up with a successful idea and another founder like Betty to
fill in all the gaps and implement it. Such partnership is, IMHO, the
essential formula for success. It is rare to have both traits in the same
person.

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ngcc_hk
Whilst your late part is great, the problem is the first sentence. It is not
behind. It should not be. Woman are human too.

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matthiasl
I think you misunderstood the parent. In this context, 'behind' means less
visible, as in a person working in the background.

Example: 'Behind every “big break” is a lot of blood sweat and tears.'

Example: Giorgio Moroder was behind many smash hits of the 80s.

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Isamu
>As Betty put it, “Some of his early papers and even later papers are in my
handwriting...and not in his, which confused people at first.” And not just
his papers: Betty was a full partner in the gadgeteering, too. In fact, it was
Betty—not Claude—who completed the wiring for Theseus the mouse.

I am a long-time Claude Shannon fan, and now his story makes a lot more sense.
This is a great article to see.

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gjm11
The title doesn't seem to match the actual article content: it's clear that
Betty Shannon was very smart and an important collaborator with Claude, but
"mathematical genius" is very strong language and I'm not seeing anything in
the article to suggest it's justified.

(Which isn't to put her down; almost everyone is not-a-mathematical-genius,
including the great majority of super-impressive people.)

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User23
I observed the same and the gist of the article is: "Two very smart people
have healthy, happy, and productive marriage." For some reason the headline
(but not the content) appears to be designed to elicit the belief that Betty
was somehow unappreciated and forgotten. My understanding is that authors
don't generally pick the titles their pieces are published under, so I would
guess the editor wanted a punchier title for whatever reason.

It's a good piece though and I'm glad I read it.

