View source for William Lucas Root

{{Short description|American information theorist}}
{{no footnotes|date=February 2013}}
'''William Lucas Root''' (1919 – April 22, 2007) was a noted American [[information theorist]]. 
As an early pioneer in the field, Root was instrumental in providing a mathematical basis for statistical [[communication theory]].

Root was born in [[Iowa]], receiving his bachelor's degree from [[Iowa State University]] in 1940 and master's degree from [[MIT]] in 1943, both in electrical engineering. He served as a [[United States Marine Corps|Marine]] officer in [[World War II]], in 1952 received his doctorate in mathematics from MIT, and subsequently joined [[Lincoln Laboratory]], serving as head of its analysis group 1959–1961. From 1962 to 1987 he was Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the [[University of Michigan]].

Root was an [[IEEE Fellow]] and received the 1986 [[Claude E. Shannon Award]].

== References ==
* [http://www.itsoc.org/society/newsarchive.html ITSOC obituary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071104150419/http://www.itsoc.org/society/newsarchive.html |date=2007-11-04 }}
* [http://www.ur.umich.edu/0607/Jun11_07/obits.shtml University of Michigan obituary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522041612/http://www.ur.umich.edu/0607/Jun11_07/obits.shtml |date=2011-05-22 }}
* {{MathGenealogy|id=64807}}

{{Claude E. Shannon Award recipients}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Root, William Lucas}}
[[Category:American information theorists]]
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps officers]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:MIT School of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:Iowa State University alumni]]
[[Category:University of Michigan faculty]]
[[Category:Fellows of the IEEE]]
[[Category:MIT Lincoln Laboratory people]]