Desmond MacHale - The Life and Work of George Boole: A Prelude to the Digital Age

Acknowledgements to
1985 edition

T his book, the first full-length biography of George Boole, was begun in 1974 as a result of discovering some letters of Booles in the archives of University College Cork. Very many people have helped me in my investigations into Booles life and work and I should like to express my sincere thanks to the following in particular:

My colleagues at University College Cork, especially the President, Dr T. O Ciardha; the Registrar, Professor M. Mortell; the Finance Officer and Secretary, Mr M.F. Kelleher, and their staffs; Professor P.D. Barry; Professor F. Holland; Professor M.C. Sexton; Professor Sean Lucy; Professor Patrick ORegan; the late Professor M.J. OKelly; Professor M.A. MacConaill; Professor H. St J. Atkins; Dr S.F. Pettit; Dr S. Vernon; Dr N. Murchadha; Dr G. Barden; Dr Patrick Cronin; Mr F. Dorr; Mr R. Studdert; Mrs Mary Conroy; Mr Tim OLeary; Mr Edwin McCarthy; Mr Ambrose Nestor; Mr Tony Perrott; and Mr Donal Counihan.

To the Librarian, Mr Patrick Quigg, and his staff, I owe a special debt, especially to Ms Beatrice Doran, Ms Nora Brown, Mr Henry Ryan, Mr Max McCarthy, Mr Jimmy Murphy and Ms Finola ODonovan.

Booles descendants and other relatives and their agents have been exceptionally helpful and generous both in giving me access to facts, documents and other material in their possession and in giving me permission to reproduce letters, photographs and extracts from Booles works. In particular, I should like to express my sincere gratitude to Miss Gabrielle Boole of London; Mrs M. Hinton and the late Professor H.E. Hinton, FRS, of Bristol and their family for their generosity and hospitality; The Rev. Mr R.H.P. Boole of Lincoln; Professor G.K. Batchelor of the University of Cambridge and Miss Gladys Davies, in connection with the estate and papers of Sir G.I. Taylor, FRS.

To the following libraries, institutions, public offices and companies, I am deeply indebted for information, photocopied documents and permission to reproduce letters and other works: Cork City Library; Cork County Library; Library of Trinity College, Dublin; Public Record Office of Ireland; Library of Trinity College, Cambridge; Bodleian Library, Oxford; Archives of Trinity College, Dublin; Cambridge Philosophical Society; Library of the Royal Society; Lincolnshire Central Library (Local History Collection); Cork Examiner; Cork Evening Echo; Lincolnshire Echo; State Papers Office, Dublin Castle; Cambridge University Library; Archives Department, Victoria Library, City of Westminster; Registration Office, Cork; RCB Library of the Church of Ireland, Dublin; Library of University College, London (Boole De Morgan Correspondence); St Andrews University Library; Library of the Royal Irish Academy; Library of the Royal Dublin Society; Library of the British Museum; Library of the University of London; C.W. Daniel and Company, Essex; British Newspaper Library; Cork University Press; Lincolnshire Archives Council; Boole Archive, University College Cork; and The Embassy of the USSR, Dublin.

In addition, I wish to thank the following individuals all of whom have helped me in various ways: Mr Calvin Jongsma; Professor Theodore Hailperin; Mr Laurence Elvin; Mr G. Layton; Mrs E. Whittingham; Dr N.T. Gridgeman; Dr John Dubbey; Miss Denise Waltham; Professor G.L. Huxley; Dr Edwin Owen, Bishop of Killaloe; Professor J.L. Synge; Canon J.L. Salter; Dr Perdue, Bishop of Cork; Rev. J.D. and Mrs Hutchinson; Mr and Mrs S.T.S. Harman; Rev. Eric Akers Perry; Mr Rush Rhees; Professor H.S.M. Coxeter; Mr Frank Corr; Professor A.J. McConnell; Mr and Mrs G.Y. Goldberg; Dr Donal Caird, former Bishop of Limerick; Mrs Brigid Dolan; Rev. John Dennis; Mrs Sheila ORiordan; Mr W. OSullivan; Mr N.H. Robinson and his staff; Mr M.C. Griffith; Mr M.B. Smith; Mr Sen Bohan and his staff; the late Mr P. Maidn and his staff, especially Ms Ann Barry; Mr Walter McGrath; Mr C.J.F. McCarthy; Ms Joy Robinson; Professor T. Hankins; Mrs Elizabeth Melrose; Dr Charles Mollan; Dr I. Grattan-Guinness; the late Sir Francis Hill; Mr Donald Crispie; Lt. Col. Sir Benjamin Bromhead and Lady Bromhead; Professor Harry Goheen; Dr L. Laita; Mr Peter Gryce and Mrs Jane Gryce; Mr and Mrs John MacHale; Mr Michael McGann; Miss Margaret MacSweeney; Mr T.F. Shepherd; Dr Diarmuid Mathna; Captain Sen Feehan; Mr Samus Buachalla; Mr and Mrs D. Terry; and Mr Finbarr OConnell.

I am very grateful to Uninversity College Cork, the Council of the Royal Irish Academy, and the Irish National Board for Science and Technology, without whose financial help I could not have written this book.

Finally, a word of praise for my typist, Una Sheehan, to whom I tender my most sincere thanks.

Bibliography of Booles Published Works

A t least three bibliographies of George Booles published works have already appeared: the first by Todhunter in his edition of Booles Differential Equations, published in 1865; the second in a catalogue of science papers in the Library of the Royal Society; and the third by G.C. Smith in his book The BooleDe Morgan Correspondence (18421864), published in 1982. All of these lists are somewhat incomplete and contain a number of minor errors, which the present author has attempted to correct in the following bibliography.

Ode to the Spring (1830) The Lincoln Herald, dated 28 May.

Letter to the Editor (1830) The Lincoln Herald, dated 12 June.

Letter to the Editor (1830) The Lincoln Herald, dated 26 June.

Lines to a Departed Friend, From the Greek (1830) The Lincoln Herald, dated 15 July.

To the Evening Star, From the Greek of Bion (1830) The Lincoln Herald, dated 25 August.

An Address on the Genius and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton (1835) Gazette Office, Lincoln.

Researches on the Theory of Analytical Transformations, with a special application to the Reduction of the General Equation of the Second Order (1841) Cambridge Mathematical Journal, vol. 2, pp. 6473.

On Certain Theorems in the Calculus of Variations (1841) Cambridge Mathematical Journal, vol. 2, pp. 97102.

On the Integration of Linear Differential Equations with Constant Coefficients (1841) Cambridge Mathematical Journal, vol. 2, pp. 114119.

Analytical Geometry (1841) Cambridge Mathematical Journal, vol. 2, pp. 179188.

Exposition of a General Theory of Linear Transformations. Part I (1842) Cambridge Mathematical Journal, vol. 3, pp. 120.

Exposition of a General Theory of Linear Transformations. Part II (1842) Cambridge Mathematical Journal, vol. 3, pp. 106119.

On the Transformation of Definite Integrals (1843) Cambridge Mathematical Journal, vol. 3, pp. 216224.

Remarks on a Theorem of M. Catalan (1843) Cambridge Mathematical Journal, vol. 3, pp. 277283.

On a General Method in Analysis (1844) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. 134, pp. 225282.

On the Transformation of Multiple Integrals (1845) Cambridge Mathematical Journal, vol. 4, pp. 2028.

On the Inverse Calculus of Definite Integrals (1845) Cambridge Mathematical Journal, vol. 4, pp. 8287.

Notes on Linear Transformations (1845) Cambridge Mathematical Journal, vol. 4, pp. 167171.

On the Theory of Developments. Part I (1845) Cambridge Mathematical Journal, vol. 4, pp. 214223.

On the Equation of Laplaces Functions (1845) Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Cambridge, Part 2, p. 2.

On the Equation of Laplaces Functions (1846) Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal, vol. 1, pp. 1022.

The Mathematical Analysis of Logic, being an Essay towards a Calculus of Deductive Reasoning (1847) Macmillan, Barclay and Macmillan, Cambridge.

The Right Use of Leisure