George Boole

Born in Lincoln on November 2, 1815, Boole was largely self-taught in mathematics and classical languages. In 1849, he was appointed the inaugural Professor of Mathematics at Queen's College, Cork (now University College Cork). His landmark 1854 treatise, An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, on Which Are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities, introduced a symbolic mathematical language using binary operators (AND, OR, NOT). Nearly a century later, Claude Shannon recognized that Boole's binary algebra mapped directly onto electrical switching circuits, forming the fundamental bedrock of modern digital computing and information technology.