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George Boole

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Mathematician

The Resume

    (November 2, 1815-December 8, 1864)
    Born in Lincoln, England, United Kingdom
    Mathematician and philosopher
    Wrote 'An Investigation of the Laws of Thought on Which Are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities' (1854), 'Treatise on Differential Equations' (1859) and 'Treatise on the Calculus of Finite Differences' (1860)
    Developed Boolean algebra
    Boolean algebra is an algebra of truth values, 0 and 1
    Operations in Boolean algebra are 'and' 'or' and 'not'
    Example: If x is the set of all brown cows and y is the set of all fat cows, then:
    x+y is the set of all cows that are either brown or fat
    xy is the set of all cows that are both brown and fat
    x-y is the set of all brown cows that are not fat
    y-x is the set of all fat cows that are not brown

Why he might be annoying:

    His work in mathematical logic was partly inspired by a mystical experience he had at 17 when he felt God called on him to explain how the mind processes thoughts.
    He died from pneumonia after getting caught in the rain, walking two miles and delivering a lecture in his soaking wet clothes. (His recovery was probably not helped by his wife who, believing that a remedy should resemble the cause, placed him in bed, then threw buckets of water over him.)
    His work languished in obscurity for decades after his death because it seemed to have no practical use.

Why he might not be annoying:

    After learning Latin from a tutor, he taught himself Greek, French and German.
    He became an assistant teacher at age 16, after his father's business collapsed and he had to financially support his parents and younger siblings.
    His grandson Sebastian Hinton invented the jungle gym.
    In the 1930s, Claude Shannon realized that Boolean algebra could be used to optimize the use of circuits in telephone routing switches.
    Since Boolean algebra underlies digital computers, he is considered in retrospect a founder of the field of computer science.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 19 Votes: 57.89% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 10 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 22 Votes: 45.45% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 138 Votes: 61.59% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 9 Votes: 22.22% Annoying