George Boole . English logician and mathematician . From 1849 to the end of his life, professor of mathematics at Queen-College, Cork . Boole is responsible for the elaboration of the first system of mathematical logic, later called the algebra of logic . The idea of the analogy between algebra and logic inspired all his logical investigations, exhibited in two fundamental works: “The mathematical analysis of logic” ( 1847 ) and “An investigation of the laws of thinking …” ( 1854). In addition to working on his logical investigations, he dealt with problems concerning the theory of probabilities and mathematical analysis, he was interested in the philosophy of Aristotle and Spinoza . Boole’s ideas about the algebra of logic have been developed and systematized by Charles Peirce , Ernst Schröder, and Plato Sergeyevich Poretsky . [1]
Summary
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- 1 Biographical synthesis
- 1 Death
- 2 Publications
- 3 Honors received
- 4 References
- 5 Sources
Biographical synthesis
He was born on 2 November as as 1815 in Lincoln , Lincolnshire ( England ), first he attended a school in Lincoln, then a commercial school. His first instructions in mathematics , however, were from his father who also gave George a hobby for the construction of optical instruments.
George’s interest turned to languages and he received instruction in Latin from a local bookstore. By the age of 12 he had become so proficient in Latin that he provoked controversy. He translated from Latin an Ode of the poet Horace of which his father was so proud that he had its publication. Yet the talent was such that a local school teacher questioned that no one at 12 could have written so deeply.
He did not study for an academic degree, but at the age of 16 he was an assistant college teacher. He maintained his interest in languages and tried to enter the Church . Since 1835 , however, he seemed to have changed his mind as he opened his own college and began studying mathematics on his own.
It took him a while to realize that he had wasted almost five years trying to learn the subjects instead of having an expert teacher. In this period Boole studied the works of Laplace and Lagrange, taking notes, which later became the basis for his early mathematical papers. He began to study algebra and Application of algebraic methods for the solution of differential equations was published by Boole in the Transaction of the Royal Society and for this work he received the medal of the Royal Society.
His mathematical work was the beginning that brought him fame. Boole was nominated for a professorship in mathematics at Queens College in 1849 , where he taught for the rest of his life, earning a reputation as a prominent and dedicated teacher.
Death
However, his somewhat late career ended unfortunately early when he died at the age of 49, on December 8 , 1864 in Ballintemple , County Cork (Ireland) .
The circumstances are described by Macfarlane as follows: “One day in 1864 he walked from his home to school, a distance of two miles, in a pouring rain and then he gave a lecture in soaked clothes. The result was a feverish cold. which soon damaged his lungs and ended his career ….. ”
Publications
In 1854 he published The Laws of Thought , on which the mathematical theories of Logic and Probability are based . Boole approached logic in a new direction by reducing it to simple algebra, incorporating logic into mathematics.
He sharpened the analogy between algebraic symbols and those that represent logical forms. Its algebra consists of a method for solving logic problems that uses only the binary values 1 and 0 and three operators:
- AND (and)
- Gold)
- NOT (no)
The algebra of logic called Boolean Algebra began which now finds application in the construction of computers, electrical circuits, etc.
Boole also worked on differential equations, the influential Treatise on Differential Equations appeared in 1859 , the calculus of finite differences, A Treatise on the Calculus of Finite Differences ( 1860 ), and general methods in probability. He published around 50 writings and was one of the first to investigate the basic properties of numbers , such as the distributive property.
Honors received
Many honors were bestowed upon Boole, he was recognized as the genius in his work, received great honors from the Universities of Dublin and Oxford, and was elected an Academic Fellow of the Royal Society (1857) .
What Macfarlane failed to say is that Boole’s wife (Mary granddaughter of Sir George Everest , after whom the mountain was named) believed that the remedy might be the cause. She put Boole to bed and threw buckets of water on the bed, since his illness had been caused by getting wet.
Boole’s work became a fundamental step in the computer revolution, when Claude Shannon in 1938 , demonstrated how elementary Boolean operations could be represented by electrical switching circuits, and how the combination of these could represent arithmetic and logical operations. complex. Shannon also showed that Boolean algebra could be used to simplify commutator circuits.
