George Boole

Hello! My name is George Boole. I was born a long, long time ago, on November 2nd, 1815. My home was in a town called Lincoln in England. My father was a shoemaker, and he loved science and making things. He showed me how fun it was to learn. He taught me to love learning, too! I spent so much time reading books. Books were my favorite toys. I taught myself many new things from them. I learned new languages and how to solve tricky math puzzles. It was so much fun to figure things out.

When I grew up, I became a teacher. I loved helping others learn. Later, in the year 1849, I became a professor. I had a super interesting idea, a really big one. I thought, what if we could use math for ideas that are either 'true' or 'false'? It is like a light switch. A light switch can only be 'on' or 'off.' It can't be both at the same time! That was my idea. I wrote all my thoughts down in a special book in 1854. This new kind of math was called Boolean logic.

My ideas might sound simple, like a game of 'on' or 'off,' but they turned out to be very important! Today, every computer, tablet, and phone uses my 'true' or 'false' logic to work. It helps them make smart choices very, very fast. I lived to be 49 years old. I am so happy that my love for puzzles and learning still helps people all over the world every single day.