Boole

George Boole (1815–1864) was an English mathematician and logician who founded Boolean algebra, the algebraic approach to logic that uses binary values to model truth. His work established that logic could be treated with algebra and that logical propositions could be manipulated using mathematical laws. Boolean algebra is a foundational element of modern digital electronics and computer science.

Life and work: Boole was born in Lincoln, England, into a working-class family and largely educated himself through study and tutoring. He taught in local schools and, in 1849, became the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork (now University College Cork). He published influential treatises, including The Calculus of Logic (1847) and The Laws of Thought (1854), which expanded his logical system toward a general theory of inference.

Contributions: In Boole's system, variables represent logical propositions that take values 0 (false) or 1 (true). The operations correspond to standard logical connectives: addition for OR, multiplication for AND, and complement (often denoted by a prime) for NOT. He showed that logical reasoning could be formalized algebraically and that complex predicates could be manipulated using these laws. His work demonstrated the equivalence between logical reasoning and algebraic computation.

Legacy: Boolean algebra influenced later logicians such as Charles Peirce and Ernst Schröder and became central to Claude Shannon's mid-20th-century development of digital circuit design. Today, Boolean algebra underpins the design of computer circuits, digital logic, databases, and many areas of theoretical computer science.