Bicentenary Lecture
In 2015, Cork and Lincoln have forged a civic partnership to celebrate the bicentenary of George Boole, 1815-64. A lecture by the Lincoln Cathedral Chancellor, Canon Mark Hocknull, will honour the birth of Lincoln mathematician George Boole.
Mathematician George Boole was born in Lincoln in 1815, the first born of John and Mary Boole. Boole's father was a Master Shoemaker with a shop in Silver Street Lincoln. Despite the fact that his work laid the foundations for all modern computer technology he remains little known outside the specialist mathematics community. Virtually every modern electrical appliance uses the symbols 1 and 0 for its on/off power switch and this symbolism derives from Boole's work. Boole was a self-taught mathematician who became the winner of the Royal Society's first Gold Medal for Mathematics and first Professor of Mathematics at what is now University College Cork. He established a school at 3 Pottergate. Boole was much more than a mathematician however he thought and wrote about the place of religion in society, the possibility of life on other planets as well as being concerned for the welfare and education of ordinary working people. He married Mary Everest, niece of George Everest, for whom the world's tallest mountain is named, and they had five daughters together. Boole died in 1864 of pneumonia at the tragically young age of 49.
This lecture will explore Boole's life and legacy. Further information available from the Lincoln Cathedral website and the University of Lincoln.
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