Marshall McLuhan

Novelist

Birthday July 21, 1911

Birth Sign Cancer

Birthplace Edmonton, Canada

DEATH DATE Dec 31, 1980 (69)

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About

Canadian academic, communication theory expert, and philosopher who wrote about mass media and predicted the World Wide Web thirty years before its inception. His important publications include The Mechanical Bride (1951), War and Peace in the Global Village (1968), and Understanding Media (1964).

Before Fame

He spent one year studying engineering at the University of Manitoba before changing his major to English. He later pursued graduate studies at the University of Cambridge.

Trivia

His careful study of the work of theologian G. K. Chesterton spurred his 1937 conversion to Roman Catholicism.

Family Life

He was born in Alberta, Canada to Elsie Naomi Hall and Herbert Ernest McLuhan. He and his wife, Corinne, became parents to two sons (Eric and Michael) and four daughters (Mary, Teresa, Stephanie, and Elizabeth).

Associated With

Woody Allen was a vocal supporter of McLuhan's research center.