Elementary link between George Boole and Sherlock Holmes' nemesis Moriarty

Elementary, my dear Watson? Maybe so, as an event next week at University College Cork will hear that the inspiration for Professor James Moriarty, nemesis of Sherlock Holmes, was actually mathematician George Boole.

Boole was the the first professor of mathematics at Queen’s College — now UCC — and is also widely seen as one of the fathers of computer science. However, it seems the Lincoln-born polymath may also have been the main inspiration behind Moriarty, the criminal mastermind created by author Arthur Conan Doyle.

At a talk to be held at UCC’s Aula Maxima on August 26, Boole’s biographer, Prof Des MacHale, will expand on his theory that Boole was the blueprint for the Moriarty character, who was described by Holmes as “the Napoleon of crime”.

Prof MacHale will outline his theory as part of the George Boole Mathematical Sciences (GBMS) Conference, which runs until August 28 and features more than 150 lectures across numerous areas of modern mathematical research and will allow young Irish mathematicians to interact with mathematics experts from around the world.

“Every computer scientist, mathematician, electrical engineer, and logician on the planet already knows about George Boole,” Emeritus Professor Des MacHale said. “If the Boole—Moriarty link can be established, then every literate person on the planet will know about George Boole too.”

According to advance publicity for the event, the story of how Boole may have been the basis for the Moriarty character involves science fiction author H. G. Wells as a vital link who connected fellow author Doyle and Mary Everest Boole, George Boole’s wife.

Recent evidence will also be presented on several Cork people with the surname Moriarty.

@ucc #sherlock This is the Moriarty who went to school with Conan Doyle http://t.co/bDKqw8twgN #ireland #limerick

— John Tierney (@JohnTierney_) August 19, 2015

Prof MacHale has previously stated of the Boole-Moriarty link: “It was a sort of backhanded tribute, but like Boole, Moriarty was a professor of mathematics at a provincial university.”

Last year was the 150th anniversary of Boole’s death. Interest in his work has peaked in recent years and a documentary, commissioned by UCC and called The Genius of George Boole, will be screened on RTÉ One on September 1.