George Boole

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Lore & Background

Boole was born in Lincoln, England, the son of a shoemaker. He received a primary school education and learned Latin and modern languages through various means, including help from a bookseller and self-study. At age 16, he began teaching to support his family, and at 19 he established his own school in Lincoln. He later ran a boarding school and was an active member of local societies, collaborating with fellow mathematicians. In 1849, he was appointed the first professor of mathematics at Queen’s College, Cork (now University College Cork) in Ireland, where he worked predominantly in the fields of differential equations and algebraic logic. He continued his involvement in social causes and maintained connections with Lincoln. In 1864, Boole died due to fever-induced pleural effusion after developing pneumonia, following a walk in heavy rain and subsequent treatment with wet blankets.

Reader's Guide

Boole published around 50 articles and several separate publications. His key works include 'The Mathematical Analysis of Logic', which introduced symbolic logic, and two systematic treatises: 'Treatise on Differential Equations' and 'Treatise on the Calculus of Finite Differences'. In 1847, he developed Boolean algebra, a fundamental concept in binary logic. He is best known as the author of 'The Laws of Thought' (1854), which contains Boolean algebra. Boolean logic is essential to computer programming and is credited with helping to lay the foundations for the Information Age. Boole's work was expanded upon by scholars such as Charles Sanders Peirce and William Stanley Jevons. His ideas gained practical applications when Claude Shannon and Victor Shestakov employed Boolean algebra to optimize the design of electromechanical relay systems, leading to the development of modern electronic digital computers. His contributions earned him the Royal Society's first gold prize for mathematics, the Keith Medal, and honorary degrees from the Universities of Dublin and Oxford.

Did You Know?

• Boole was self-taught in modern languages, and when a local newspaper printed his translation of a Latin poem, a scholar accused him of plagiarism, believing he was not capable of such achievements.
• At age 19, Boole established his own school in Lincoln on Free School Lane.
• Boole met his future wife, Mary Everest, in 1850 while she was visiting her uncle John Ryall, a professor of Greek at Queen's College, Cork.
• Boole's wife, believing remedies should resemble their cause, wrapped him in wet blankets after he developed pneumonia from walking in heavy rain.
• Boole's work was used by Claude Shannon in his 1937 master's thesis to show how Boolean algebra could optimize the design of electromechanical relay systems.