Boole, George (1815-1864)

English mathematician. His work The Mathematical Analysis of Logic (1847) established the basis of modern mathematical logic, and his Boolean algebra can be used in designing computers.

Boole's system is essentially two-valued. By subdividing objects into separate classes, each with a given property, his algebra makes it possible to treat different classes according to the presence or absence of the same property. Hence it involves just two numbers, 0 and 1 - the binary system used in the computer.

Boole was born in Lincoln and was largely self-taught. In 1849 he was appointed professor of mathematics at Queen's College in Cork, Ireland.

In 1847 he announced that logic was more closely allied to mathematics than to philosophy. He argued not only that there was a close analogy between algebraic symbols and those that represented logical forms but also that symbols of quantity could be separated from symbols of operation. These ideas received fuller treatment in An Investigation of the Laws of Thought on which are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities (1854).