George Boole ( ; 2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was an English mathematician and philosopher often credited with revolutionizing logic by transforming it from a philosophical study of language into a mathematical system of algebraic equations using binary values and logical operators.
Boole was the son of a shoemaker. He received a primary school education and learned Latin and modern languages through various means. At 16, he began teaching to support his family. He established his own school at 19 and later ran a boarding school in Lincoln. Boole was an active member of local societies and collaborated 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.
Boole published around 50 articles and several separate publications in his lifetime. Some of his key works include a paper on early invariant theory and "The Mathematical Analysis of Logic", which introduced symbolic logic. Boole also wrote two systematic treatises: "Treatise on Differential Equations" and "Treatise on the Calculus of Finite Differences". He contributed to the theory of linear differential equations and the study of the sum of residues of a rational function. In 1847, Boole developed Boolean algebra, a fundamental concept in binary logic, which laid the groundwork for the algebra of logic tradition and forms the foundation of digital circuit design and modern computer science. Boole also attempted to discover a general method in probabilities, focusing on determining the consequent probability of events logically connected to given probabilities. He is best known as the author of The Laws of Thought (1854), which contains Boolean algebra. Boolean logic, essential to computer programming, is credited with helping to lay the foundations for the Information Age.
Boole's work was expanded upon by various scholars, such as Charles Sanders Peirce and William Stanley Jevons. Boole's ideas later 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 to mathematics earned him various honours, including the Royal Society's first gold prize for mathematics, the Keith Medal, and honorary degrees from the Universities of Dublin and Oxford. University College Cork celebrated the 200th anniversary of Boole's birth in 2015, highlighting his significant impact on the digital age.
Early life
Boole was born in 1815 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, the son of John Boole Snr (1779–1848), a shoemaker and Mary Ann Joyce. He had a primary school education, and received lessons from his father, but due to a serious decline in business, he had little further formal and academic teaching. William Brooke, a bookseller in Lincoln, may have helped him with Latin, which he may also have learned at the school of Thomas Bainbridge. He was self-taught in modern languages.Hill, p. 149; Google Books . In fact, when a local newspaper printed his translation of a Latin poem, a scholar accused him of plagiarism under the pretence that he was not capable of such achievements. At age 16, Boole became the breadwinner for his parents and three younger siblings, taking up a junior teaching position in Doncaster at Heigham's School.Rhees, Rush. (1954) "George Boole as Student and Teacher. By Some of His Friends and Pupils", Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section A: Mathematical and Physical Sciences. Vol. 57. Royal Irish Academy He taught briefly in Liverpool.
Boole participated in the Lincoln Mechanics' Institute, in the Greyfriars, Lincoln, which was founded in 1833. Edward Bromhead, who knew John Boole through the institution, helped George Boole with mathematics books and he was given the calculus text of Sylvestre François Lacroix by the Rev. George Stevens Dickson of St Swithin's, Lincoln. Without a teacher, it took him many years to master calculus.
At age 19, Boole successfully established his own school in Lincoln: Free School Lane.George Boole: Self-Education & Early Career University College Cork Four years later, he took over Hall's Academy in Waddington, outside Lincoln, following the death of Robert Hall. In 1840, he moved back to Lincoln, where he ran a boarding school. Boole immediately became involved in the Lincoln Topographical Society, serving as a member of the committee, and presenting a paper entitled "On the origin, progress, and tendencies of polytheism, especially amongst the ancient Egyptians and Persians, and in modern India".A Selection of Papers relative to the County of Lincoln, read before the Lincolnshire Topographical Society, 1841–1842. Printed by W. and B. Brooke, High-Street, Lincoln, 1843.
Boole became a prominent local figure, an admirer of John Kaye, the bishop.Hill, p. 172 note 2; Google Books . He took part in the local campaign for early closing. With Edmund Larken and others he set up a building society in 1847.Hill, p. 130 note 1; Google Books . He associated also with the Chartist Thomas Cooper, whose wife was a relation.Hill, p. 148; Google Books .
From 1838 onwards, Boole was making contacts with sympathetic British academic mathematicians and reading more widely. He studied algebra in the form of symbolic methods, as far as these were understood at the time, and began to publish research papers.
Professorship
Boole's status as a mathematician was recognised by his appointment in 1849 as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork (now University College Cork (UCC)) in Ireland. He met his future wife, Mary Everest, there in 1850 while she was visiting her uncle John Ryall who was professor of Greek. They married in 1855.Ronald Calinger, Vita mathematica: historical research and integration with teaching (1996), p. 292; Google Books . He maintained his ties with Lincoln, working there with E. R. Larken in a campaign to reduce prostitution.Hill, p. 138 note 4; Google Books .
In 1861, Boole was involved in a Judgement in the Court of Queen's Bench in Ireland against one John Hewitt Wheatley of Craig House, Sligo for the sum of £400, whereby Wheatley's estate and interest in lands of Maghan/Mahon, County Cork became vested in Boole.Registry of Deeds, Dublin. Memorial: 1863-007-257 (extract). A Memorial of an Indenture of Re-Conveyance bearing date the seventh day of February one thousand eight hundred and sixty three made between William Hutchinson Massey of Mountmassey in the County of Cork, Esquire, of the first part, George Boole of Blackrock in the County of Cork, Esquire, Professor of Mathematics of the second part, Wilhelmina Smithwick of Dunmanway in said County of Cork, Spinster, of the third part and John Hewitt Wheatley of Craig House in the County of Sligo, Esquire, of the fourth part reciting a certain Indenture of Mortgage bearing date the fifth day of January one thousand eight hundred and sixty one whereby the said John Hewitt Wheatley in consideration of the sum.... And reciting that George Boole by the name and description of George Boole of Blackrock in the County of Corke, Professor of Mathematics did in or as of Trinity Term one thousand eight hundred and sixty one obtain a Judgement in the Court of Queen's Bench in Ireland against said John Hewitt Wheatley for the sum of four hundred pounds debt besides costs And reciting that said Judgement was duly registered on the ninth of November one thousand eight hundred and sixty one whereby pursuant to the statute in such Case made and provided the Estate and interest of the said John Hewitt Wheatley in said lands and premises became vested in one George Boole but subject to Redemption...
In March 1863, Boole leased Litchfield Cottage, Cork, the house in which he would live with his wife Mary until his death in December of the following year.Registry of Deeds, Dublin. Memorial: 1863-011-164 (extract). Registered: 30/03/1863. Memorial of an Intended Deed ... made between Edwards Casey, then of Waterloo Place in the City of Cork, Esquire ... and George Boole then of Blackrock in the County of Cork, Esquire, L.L.D. then Professor of Mathematics in the Queens College at Cork ... After reciting that by Indenture of Lease bearing date the Twenty seventh day of March one thousand eight hundred and fifty six, John Litchfield then of Ballymaloo in the County of Cork, Esquire, did for the considerations therein mentioned demise and set unto the said William Jackson Cummins All That and Those the dwelling house with the premises and the Garden and walled in field to the rere thereof hereinafter particularly mentioned and described To Hold the said demised premises ... To Hold the said dwelling house and premises with the appurtenances unto the said George Boole, his Executors, Administrators and Assigns, from thenceforth for the then residue of the said term of one hundred years then to come and unexpired vested in him the said, Edwards Casey... The premises was described in the deeds as "all that and those the dwelling house called Litchfield Cottage with the premises and appurtenances thereunto belonging and the Garden and Walled in field to the rere thereof". Boole's will bequeathed all his 'estate term and interest' in the lease of Litchfield Cottage unto his wife.Registry of Deeds, Dublin. Memorial: 1865-030-121 (extract). Registered: 20/10/1865. Memorial of a certain Deed of Assignment bearing date the Twenty first day of August one thousand eight hundred and sixty five and made between Mary Boole of 68 Harley Street, London, Widow and Executrix of the Last Will and Testament of George Boole late of Litchfield Cottage Blackrock in the County of Cork Esquire L.L.D. deceased of the one part and Francis Heard of Ballintemple in the County of Cork, Esquire, Captain in her Majesty's eighty seventh Regiment of South Cork, Militia of the other part Whereby after reciting that by Indenture of Lease bearing date the twenty seventh day of March one thousand eight hundred and fifty six made between John Litchfield of Ballymaloo in the County of Cork, Esquire, of the one part and William Jackson Cummins of the City of Cork, Doctor in Medicine of the other part, the said John Litchfield demised unto the said William Jackson Cummins All that and those the dwelling house called Litchfield Cottage with the premises and appurtenances thereunto ... also reciting that the said George Boole ... having before his death duly made and published his last Will and Testament in writing and thereby bequeathed all his Estate term and interest in said hereinbefore recited Indenture of Lease and premises thereby demised unto the said Mary Boole party of said deed of which this is the Memorial and said Will was afterwards duly proved by the said Mary Boole in the Court of Probate District of Cork... witnesses as to the execution of said Deed and this Memorial by the said Mary Boole are witnessed by John Knights, Porter at Queens College, Harley Street, London and Jane White, Housekeeper 68 Harley Street, London. In August 1865, some 8 months after his death, Mary (by then living at 68 Harley Street, London) passed the house on to Francis Heard of Ballintemple, Cork, Esquire, a captain in her Majesty's 87th Regiment of South Cork.