Discovery of Boole papers hailed as fascinating find

ACADEMICS have hailed the discovery of a remarkable collection of forgotten papers by the ‘father of modern computer science’.

George Boole’s previously unseen documents were discovered by staff at University College Cork following the opening of an extension to its Boole Library.

The scrapbook-type collection, which includes examination papers he set for students at the then Queen’s University in Cork, complete with his own notations on future exams, had simply been overlooked.

Now, computer giant EMC has stepped in to help make the collection available to the world.

Crónán Ó Doibhlin, the head of Special Collections, Archives and Repository Services at the Boole Library, described the discovery as a “fascinating find”.

“As an artefact, the find is very special,” he said. “The documents are very rare, and as well as being valuable from a monetary point of view, they are also extremely valuable from a cultural and academic point of view.”

Born in Lincoln, England, in 1815, George Boole was appointed the first professor of mathematics at the then Queen’s College Cork in 1849. He wrote his major work, The Laws of Thought, in 1854, while working in Cork.

Described as a work of genius in mathematical logic, it presented the laws of Boolean algebra — a system of mathematical expression — which is widely regarded as laying the foundations of modern computer science, and much of modern information and communications technology.

His work also went on to form the basis for all modern computer languages.

Several years ago, UCC acquired a vast collection of over 4,000 of his personnel correspondences written to his family during his time in Cork.

He describes Ireland’s social history, life around UCC, as well as the poverty and hardship he witnessed in the wake of the Famine.

That collection also included Boole’s own annotated copy of The Laws of Thought. Mr Ó Doibhlin said acquiring it is like having Darwin’s original On the Origin of Species.

Thanks to a substantial 2006 donation from UCC graduate Daragh Horgan and his wife Anne, UCC has been creating a publicly available digital archive of the letters and book.

EMC’s Heritage Grant to the Boole Library will now help UCC digitise the newly discovered papers.

UCC hopes to have the first phase of the digitised documents live online by the end of the month.

In 1854, Boole married Mary Everest, a niece of Sir George Everest, after whom the mountain is named.

He died in 1864 and is buried in the churchyard of St Michael’s Church of Ireland in Blackrock, Cork.