New Light on George Boole

George Boole (1815–1864) was born in Lincoln, England and was largely self taught, having left school before he was sixteen. First, he taught himself languages – Latin, Greek, French, German and Italian – and then astronomy, optics, mechanics and mathematics. By the age of twenty-one, he was publishing original research in mathematical journals and, in 1849, despite his lack of a degree, he was appointed first professor of mathematics at the newly-founded Queen’s College Cork (now Universit...