George Boole

English mathematician, philosopher and logician (1815–1864)

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Lived 1855–1864, aged 9United Kingdom

United Kingdom AcademicsAcademic

Wikipedia
83 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1855–1864
Aged 9
Awards
3
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

A shoemaker's son who taught himself mathematics and wrote the symbolic logic that computers run on. Boolean algebra — the on-off, true-false backbone of every digital circuit — came from an 1847 treatise by a self-taught schoolmaster working outside the academic establishment.

Biography

About

Boole was born 2 November 1815, received only a primary school education, and picked up Latin and modern languages on his own. At 16 he began teaching to support his family; by 19 he'd opened his own school, later running a boarding school in Lincoln. In 1849 he was appointed the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork, where he met his future wife, Mary Everest. He published around 50 articles and several treatises, including work on differential equations and early invariant theory, but his 1847 development of Boolean algebra — formalized in "The Laws of Thought" (1854) — bec…

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In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from George Boole

George Boole

said1854

The general laws of Nature are not, for the most part, immediate objects of perception.

— p. 4; Ch. 1. Nature And Design Of This Work

George Boole

said1854

To deduce the laws of the symbols of Logic from a consideration of those operations of the mind which are implied in the strict use of language as an instrument of reasoning.

— p. 42

George Boole

said1851

The scepticism of the ancient world left no department of human belief unassailed.

— George Boole (1851), "The Claims of Science, especially as founded in its relation to Human Nature". Published in Boole, GeorgeStudies in

George Boole

said1847

I have spoken of the advantages of leisure and opportunity for improvement, as of a right to which you were entitled.

— George Boole, "Right Use of Leisure," cited in: James Hogg Titan Hogg's weekly instructor, (1847) p. 250 : Address on the Right Use of

George Boole

said1847

The last subject to which I am desirous to direct your attention as to a means of self-improvement, is that of philanthropic exertion for the good of others.

— George Boole, "Right Use of Leisure," cited in: James Hogg Titan Hogg's weekly instructor, (1847) p. 250; Also cited in: R. H. Hutton,

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