B chapter.indd - Charles Babbage Institute - University of Minnesota

Erwin Tomash Library
Boole, George Boole, George
Edition: 2nd
Language: Italian
Binding: original paper wrappers
Pagination: pp. [4], 72
Collation: * 2 A–I 4
Size: 261x191 mm
Reference: Smi Rara, p. 347; Rcdi BMI, Vol. I, p. 154
This is a set of tables for converting units of measurement
used in and around Milan. The first two pages provide a
very short explanation, and the rest of the work is made
up of the tables.
Illustrations available:
Title page
Page of tables
B 198
Boole, George (1815–1864)
An investigation of the laws of thought on which
are founded the mathematical theories of logic and
probabilities
Year: 1854
Place: London
Publisher: Macmillan
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Binding: modern leather; gilt spine; red leather label
Pagination: pp. [12], 426, 6
Collation: * 6 B–2E 8
Size: 224x138 mm
The son of a Lincolnshire cobbler who was also an
amateur mathematician and lens grinder, George Boole
was a promising student, but his family circumstances
prevented him from obtaining more than an ordinary
school education. After leaving school at age 15, he
found work as an assistant teacher in the area and, with
his father’s encouragement, set up his own school. In
his spare time he mastered Latin, Greek and several
European languages, as well as mathematics.
He found ample opportunity to satisfy his wide-ranging
intellectual curiosity when, in 1834, the Mechanics
Institution was founded in Lincoln, and Boole was
hired to be in charge of the reading room. His first
mathematical paper appeared in 1840, when he was 25
years old, and in 1844 his seminal paper, “On a general
method of analysis,” appeared in the Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society, which resulted in
his receiving the first Royal Society Gold Medal for
Mathematics. His most famous work, which established
the principles of symbolic logic, is The mathematical
analysis of logic, being an essay towards a calculus of
deductive reasoning, published in 1847.
B 198
In 1849, he was appointed to the professorship of
mathematics at Queen’s College, Cork, despite his lack
of formal qualifications. He made many contributions
to mathematics, but his most significant work was the
creation of mathematical logic. Several people, most
notably Leibniz and DeMorgan, had attempted some
type of algebraic treatment of logic prior to Boole, but
none had managed to overcome the difficulties that
arose when considering anything beyond the most trivial
situations.
Boole’s entry into this field was due to a simple argument
between DeMorgan and the Scottish philosopher W.
Hamilton. Hamilton had derided some of DeMorgan’s
attempts to introduce the systems of algebra into logic,
asserting that logic was the realm of the philosopher and
that mathematics was dangerous and useless. Boole,
using Hamilton’s own arguments, showed that logic was
not part of philosophy. He then proceeded to examine
whether logic, like geometry, might be founded on a
group of axioms (see entry for Boole, The mathematical
analysis of logic, 1847).
In recent times, Boolean logic has found widespread use
in the design of digital computers and communications
systems.
In the present book, Boole applied algebraic methods to
logic and initiated a revolution in mathematics, to say
nothing of philosophy and linguistics. While his earlier
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