closer to mathematics. All you needed to do was express logical problems in a symbolic format, and they could be solved in a way similar to mathematical problems.

Largely self-taught, Boole’s education began at home, where his tradesman father taught him basic mathematics. Boole began working as a schoolteacher at age 16, and spent his evenings reading such lightweight fare as Isaac Newton’s Principia.

By the time he was 24, he was already submitting mathematical papers on differential equations and linear transformations to major journals. Boole won recognition from the Royal Society in 1844 for a paper on methods for combining algebra and calculus.

He became a professor of mathematics at Queen’s College in Ireland’s County Cork, at 33, despite not having a college degree of his own. Boole became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1857.

But it’s Boolean logic, or Boolean algebra, for which he’s known today. The concept goes far beyond the and and or operators most of us have learned to use in the “advanced” options of search engines. In fact, it reduces all logical problems to symbols that can be manipulated.

Ultimately, in the field of computer science, that logic would prove extremely useful. Claude Shannon found that a binary-numbering system (where all digits are either 1 or 0) combined with the basic Boolean operators (and, or and not — plus not-and, not-or, exclusive-or and exclusive-nor) can be implemented in electronic circuits. You can then use this combination of binary and Boolean to solve any mathematical problem, from addition to computing derivatives to plotting the arc of a virtual grenade as it soars toward the zombie on your computer screen.

Just as important, Boolean logic can be used to construct computer programs that not only process mathematical problems, but can also manipulate text and images (represented as binary digits), store data, communicate with other computers, fling virtual birds at virtual pigs or capture an image of your daughter’s face and then redisplay it in real time in a Skype window 3,000 miles away.

However, that insight — about the universal programmability of computers — would have to wait another century, for 20th century genius Alan Turing to discover it.

Source: Various

See Also:

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• June 23, 1912: Computer Pioneer Alan Turing Born
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Authors: Dylan Tweney

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