George Boole was the founder of the modern science of mathematical logic. He devised a system of binary algebra that today has broad applications in the design of computer circuits and telephone switching. He also made significant contributions to probability theory, the field of differential equations, and the calculus of finite differences.

George Boole was born in Lincoln, England, on November 2, 1815, into what was regarded at the time as a lower class family. His father, a tradesman, encouraged Boole to obtain an education in the classics, believing this might elevate him to a higher social rank. Because Latin and Greek were not offered at the National Schools, the only formal educational institutions then available for boys of Boole's social status, he studied the ancient languages on his own. At the age of 12, Boole made a translation of a Latin ode by Horace, which his father submitted for publication...