Boole, George 1815-64
English mathematician and logician

Born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, he was largely self-taught, and although he did not receive a degree, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics at Cork University in 1849. He was one of the first to direct attention to the theory of invariants, expressions in several variables that do not change when the coordinates change. His algebraic treatment of differential operators gradually led him to consider the operations of logic algebraically also, resulting in the work for which he is best remembered, his Mathematical Analysis of Logic (1847) and Laws of Thought (1854). In these he employed mathematical symbolism to express logical relations, thus becoming an outstanding pioneer of modern symbolic logic. Boolean algebra is a generalization of the familiar operations of arithmetic, and it is particularly useful in the design of circuits and computers.

Bibliography: E T Bell, Men of Mathematics (1937)