@Shannon was looking for a mathematical procedure that was best suited for describing the behavior of relay circuits. His thesis showed how George Boole's algebra could be used to describe the operations of these complex circuits. And he was not unaware of the implications if the fact that these circuits could now be designed to represent the operations of logic and arithmetic.

During the war, working at top-secret defense projects for Bell Laboratories, @Shannon was involved in cryptological work that brought him into contact with Turing.