The Papers of George Boole, F.R.S. (1815-1864)

Context

Creator(s): Maryann Boole

• Administrative History ↴

  The George Boole Papers (UC/BP/1) consist mainly of personal letters to and from Boole which were collected by his sister Maryann, who had hoped one day to publish a biography of her famous brother. This archive offers us insights into the life of George Boole from the period immediately prior to his arrival in Cork in 1849, until his death in 1864. George Boole (2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was an English mathematician and philosopher, most recognized as the inventor of Boolean Logic, which is the basis of modern digital computer logic. He was awarded the first Royal Medal in mathematics for his 1844 On a General Method in Analysis, published in the Transactions of the Royal Society, and was in 1849 appointed first Professor of Mathematics at the Queen's College in Cork (now University College Cork). Born in 1815 to Mary Ann Joyce (1780-1854) and John Boole (1777-1848) in Lincoln, England, Boole was the son of parents of modest means. He had 3 siblings Maryann (1818 –1887), Charles (1819 –1888) and William (1821 –1902). His father, a cobbler by trade, had an abiding love of science, literature and mathematics much to the detraction, and ultimate collapse, of his business affairs. George Boole being a deeply religious man had intended as a young man to enter the Ministry but was forced owing to his family's circumstances to teaching, working in Doncaster, Waddington and Liverpool before establishing his own school in Lincoln at age 19. Boole's father died in December 1848 before the decision had been made concerning the Irish chairs but an announcement came in August 1849 that Boole was to become the first Professor of Mathematics at Queen's College, Cork, and he took up the position in November. He taught at the University for the rest of his life, gaining a reputation as an outstanding and dedicated teacher. In 1855 he married Mary Ann Everest and they had 5 children, all daughters Mary Ellen (b. 1856), Margaret (b. 1858), Alice (b. 1860, Lucy (b. 1862) and Ethel (b.1864). On 8 December 1864 Boole died prematurely at his home in Ballintemple, Co. Cork aged only 49. Hhe died of an attack of fever, ending in effusion on the lungs. He is buried in Blackrock, a suburb of Cork.

• Archival History ↴

  They were purchased by University College Cork in 1983.

• Immediate Source Acquisition ↴

  Purchase