George Boole (; 2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was an English
mathematician, educator,
philosopher and
logician. He worked in the fields of
differential equations and
algebraic logic, and is best known as the author of
The Laws of Thought (1854) which contains
Boolean algebra. Boolean logic is credited with laying the foundations for the
information age. Boole maintained that:
Early life
Boole was born in
Lincoln,
Lincolnshire, England, the son of John Boole (1779–1848), a shoemaker and Mary Ann Joyce. He had a primary school education, and received lessons from his father, but had little further formal and academic teaching. William Brooke, a bookseller in Lincoln, may have helped him with Latin, which he may also have learned at the school of Thomas Bainbridge. He was self-taught in modern languages. At age 16 Boole became the breadwinner for his parents and three younger siblings, taking up a junior teaching position in
Doncaster at Heigham's School. He taught briefly in
Liverpool.