Biography of George Boole

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Biography of George Boole
Dates of Birth and Death:
(∗) 2 November 1815 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England
(†) 8 December 1864 in Ballintemple, Ireland
Family Data:
Boole’s parents were Mary Ann Joyce and John Boole. The father was a
shoemaker, but was interested in science and especially in mathematics, the
mother had been maiden for a lady. They married on 14 September 1806.
George was the first child with three younger ones.
On 11 September 1855 Boole married Mary Everest, who was 17 years
younger. They had five daughters: Mary Ellen, Margret, Alicia (1860-1940,
married Stott, famous for her works in geometry), Lucy and the author Ethel
Lilian Voynich (1864-1960).
Education:
Already with two years George attended a kind of private school, then a
commercial one. His father soon taught him mathematics. With seven years
George entered the primary school and learnt Latin and Greek.
In 1828, Boole went to a so-called Commercial Academy in Lincoln and
taught himself French and German. Already with 16 years, Boole became
assistant teacher, because his father’s business collapsed and he had to sustain
the family. He also started to study mathematics.
Professional Career:
Boole took over two schools as a leader and published his first mathematical
articles, a.o. in the Transactions of the Royal Society. He corresponded with
Augustus De Morgan (1806-1871).
In 1849, Boole became, without any education at an University, professor at
Queens College in Cork (Ireland), where he taught till his death. He died of
pneumonia.

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Publications:
• Collected logical works, 2 vols. (Chicago 1916, repr. 1940 und 1952)
• “On a general method in analysis”, Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society of London 134 (1844) pp. 225-282.
• An investigation of the laws of thought, on which are founded the mathematical
theories of logic and probabilities (London 1854; Amherst, NY
2003).
• The Mathematical Analysis of Logic: being an essay towards a calculus
of deductive reasoning (Cambridge 1847, repr. London 1948; Oxford
1951; New York 1951; Oxford 1965; Bristol 1998), auch in: P. Ewald
(ed.), From Kant to Hilbert, vol. 1 (Oxford 1996) pp. 451-509, German:
Die mathematische Analyse der Logik (Halle Verlag 2001), French: F.
Gillot (ed.), Algèbre et logique... (Paris 1962) pp. 13-88, Spanish:
Análisis matemático de la lógica: ensayo de un calculo del rezonamiento
deductivo (La Plata 1960).
• On the theory of probabilities (London 1863).
• On simultaneous differential equations of the first order in which the
number of the variables exceeds by more than one the number of the
equations (London 1863).
• On the differential equations of dynamics: A sequel to a paper on simultaneous
differential equations(London 1864).
• [A treatise] on differential equations (Cambridge 1865; London 1872,
1877; New York 1931; New York 1959).
• Studies in logic and probability (London 1952; Mineola, NY 2004).
• R. Rhees (ed.), Studies in logic and probability, vol. III (London, La
Salle 1952), with: “The Mathematical Analysis of Logic...“, pp. 49-124.
• [A treatise on] the calculus of finite differences (London 1872; 1880;
New York 1958; 1960; New York 1970; Saarbrücken 2007), German: Die
Grundlehren der endlichen Differenzen- und Summenrechnung (Braunschweig
1867).
• The Boole - de Morgan correspondence, 1842-1864 (Oxford 1982).

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• Les lois de la pensée (Paris 1992).
• Investigation of the Laws of Thought on Which are Founded the Mathematical
Theories of Logic and Probabilities (London 1854; New York
1958; New York 1968; New York 2003; New York 2007), auch in: Collected
logical works, vol. 2, Italian: Indagine sulle legge del pensiero su
cui sono fondata le teorie matematiche della logica e della probabilità
(Torino 1976), French: Les lois de la pensée (Paris 1994), Spanish: Investigación
de las leyes del pensiameniento sobre las que se fundamentan
las teorías matemáticas de la logica y las probilidaded (maracaibo
1972, Microfilm).
• I. Grattan-Guiness (ed.), Selected Manuscripts on logic and its philosophy
(Basel 1997).
Scientific Awards:
1857 Fellow der Royal Society
Bibliography:
• Charles Coulston Gillespie (ed.), Dictionary of scientific biography, vol. II
(New York 1970) pp. 293-298.
• E. Agazzi, N. Vassallo (eds.), George Boole. Filosofia, logica, matematica
(Milano 1998).
• Armando Asti Vera, George Boole: precursor de la lógica simbólica (Buenos
Aires 1968).
• P.D. Barry (ed.), George Boole: a miscellany (Cork 1866).
• E.T. Bell, Men of Mathematics (1961).
• Elart von Collani (ed.), Defining the Science of Stochastics (Lemgo 2004).
• J. Corcoran, S. Wood, “Boole’s criteria of validity and invalidity”, Notre
Dame Journal of Formal Logic 21 (1980) pp. 101-128.
• J. Corcoran, “Correspondence without communication”, History and Philosophy
of Logic 7 (1986) pp. 65-75.
• Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Philosophie symbolique et algèbre de la logique:
les lois de la pensée de George Boole (Paris 1988).
• S.B. Diagne, Boole. L’oiseau de nuit en plein jour (Paris 1989).
• Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Boole: 1815-1864 (Paris 1989).
• Maria Luisa Facco, Metafisica, logica, matematica: Leibniz, Boole, Rosmini
(Venezia 1997).
• J. Gasser (ed.), A Boole anthology: recent and classical studies in the logic
of George Boole (Dordrecht 2000).

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• I. Grattan-Guiness, “The correspondence between George Boole and Stanley
Jevons, 1863-1864”, History and Philosophy of Logic 12 (1991) pp. 15-35.
• I. Grattan-Guiness, “Psychology in the foundations of logic and mathematics:
the cases of Boole, Cantor and Brouwer”, History and Philosophy of Logic
3 (1982) pp. 33-53.
• I. Grattan-Guiness, “’A new type of question’: on the prehistory of linear
and non-linear programming, 1770-1940”, in: E. Knobloch, D. Rowe (eds.),
History of modern mathematics, vol. 3 (New York 1994).
• I. Grattan-Guiness, The search for mathematical roots, 1870-1940. Logics,
set theories and the foundations of mathematics from Cantor through Russel
to Gödel (Princeton 2000).
• I. Grattan-Guiness, “George Boole, An Investigation of the Laws of Thought
in which are founded the Mathematical Theory of Logic and Probabilities
(1854)”, in: I. Grattan-Guiness (ed.), Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics
(Amsterdam, Boston 2005) pp. 470-479.
• F.E. Hackett, “The method of George Boole”, Proceedings of the Royal
Irish Academy Section A 57 (1955) pp. 79-87.
• Theodore Hailperin, Boole’s logic and probability: a critical exposition from
the standpoint of contemporary algebra, logic, and probability theory (Amsterdam
1976).
• Theodore Hailperin, “Boole’s abandoned propositional logic”, History and
Philosophy of Logic 5 (1984) pp. 39-48.
• R. Harley, George Boole: his life and work (Dublin 1985).
• Peter Heath, Eugene Seneta, “George Boole”, in: C.C. Heyde, E. Seneta
(eds.), Statisticians of the Centuries (New York 2001) pp. 167-170.
• W. Kneale, “Boole and the revival of logic”, Mind 57 (1948) pp. 149-175.
• D. MacHale, George Boole - his life and work (Dublin 1985).
• D.D. Merrill, Augustus De Morgan and the logic of relations (Dordrecht
1990).
• Denis Miéville, George Boole et l’algèbre de la logique (Neuchâtel 1994).
• Modestino Nuzzetti, Logic e linguaggio nella filosofia di George Boole
(Napoli 1987).
• M. Pantecki, “Relationships between algebra, differential equations and
logic in England: 1800-1860”, Ph.D., C.N.A.A. (London 1992).
• Daniel Parrochia, Qu’est-ce que penser/calculer? (Paris 1992).
• V. Peckhaus, Logic, Mathesis universalis und allgemeine Wissenschaft.
Leibniz und die Wiederentdeckung der formalen Logik im 19. Jahrhundert
(Berlin 1997).
• Alessio Plebe, Il linguaggio come calcolo: dalla logica di Boole alle reti
neuronali (Roma 2004).
• Shahid Rahman, Hugh MacColls Begriff der hypothetischen Aussage und

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die Verflechtung der Tradition von Boethius und Hamilton mit Booles Algebraisierung
der Logik (Saarbrücken 1997).
• J. Richards, “Boole and Mill: differing perspectives on logical psychologism”,
History and Philosophy of Logic 1 (1980) pp. 19-36.
• E. Seneta, “On the history of the strong law of large numbers and Boole’s
inequality”, Historia Mathematica 19 (1992) pp. 24-39.
• G.C. Smith, The Boole - De Morgan correspondence, 1842-1864 (New York
1982).
• G.C. Smith, “Boole’s annotations on ’The mathematical analysis of logic”’,
History and Philosophy of Logic 4 (1983) pp. 27-38.
• N.I. Styazhkin, From Leibniz to Peano: a concise history of mathematical
logic (Cambridge 1969).
• I. Thomas “Boole’s concept of science”, Proceedings of the Royal Irish
Academy Section A 57 (1955) pp. 88-96.
• J.J. O’Connor, E.F. Robertson, http://wwww-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/ history/Mathematicians/Boole.html
(21 November 2006).
• J.J. O’Connor, E.F. Robertson, http://wwww-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/ history/References/Boole.html
(21 November 2006).
Author(s) of this contribution:
Claudia von Collani
Version: 1.00