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Background of Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead was a mathematician and philosopher from the years 1861-1947 in which he published multiple books and taught mathematics at Trinity College in Cambridge from 1884-1910, University College London from 1910-1924, and from 1924 to his retirement in 1937 he worked as a professor of philosophy at Harvard (Desmet and Irvine). -
Birth
Born February 15th, 1861 in Kent, England to Anglican clergymanhttps (Desmet and Irvine). Desmet, Ronald, and Andrew David Irvine. “Alfred North Whitehead.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 10 Nov. 2022, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/whitehead/. -
Education
In 1880 Alfred attended Trinity College in Cambridge on a mathematics scholarship where he would officially graduate in 1884 with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics.
At the same time he was elected to the Apostles which was an elite discussion group that discussed topics of truth, God, and ethics (Desmet and Irvine). -
Fellow at Cambridge
Once Alfred graduated with his Bachelor of Arts he began to teach as a fellow at Trinity College (Desmet and Irvine). It was during this time that Alfred met Bertrand Russell who was a student at Trinity College in the 1890's and also a co-author of the landmark series Principia Mathematica. Desmet, Ronald, and Andrew David Irvine. “Alfred North Whitehead.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 10 Nov. 2022, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/whitehead/. -
Alfred's first book on Mathematics
In 1898 Alfred completed his first book "A Treatise on Universal Algebra" which also resulted in Alfred's election into the Royal Society. The book covered Boolean algebra, symbolic logic, exterior algebra (Grassmann Algebra), and algebraic manifolds. This book came over a decade before Alfred's famous first edition Principia Mathematica (A treatise on universal algebra). -
Creation of Principia Mathematica
In 1910 both Alfred and Russell completed their first edition of the series which helped pave way to new ideas and ways to construct mathematical equations using this new way of thinking called "universal algebra". The books were competed in 1910, 1912, and 1913 (Desmet and Irvine). Desmet, Ronald, and Andrew David Irvine. “Alfred North Whitehead.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 10 Nov. 2022, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/whitehead/. -
Alred's theory on science
In 1929 Whitehead published the book "Process and Reality" which he used as a way of saying science consisted of processes that created relationships between one another instead of just material objects. It was around this time that other philosophers were turning a blind eye to Whitehead's work because of the differences in thinking between the two (Desmet and Irvine). -
Contribution to Science
In 1934 Whitehead began to look at Maxwell-Lorentz theory on electrodynamics. He wrote that modern physical science is "the issue of a coordinated effort, sustained more than three centuries, to understand those activities of Nature by reason of which the transitions of sense-perception occur" (Desmet and Irvine). He also took Maxwells theory and made it a possibility to go against Newtons scientific materialism because Whitehead saw the whole universe as "a field of force"(Desmet and Irvine). -
Order of Merit
In 1937 Alfred North Whitehead retired from being a Professor of Philosophy at Harvard. After his retirement Whitehead was given the Order of Merit in 1945 for his distinguished contributions to sciences. From his many books and the way we understand metaphysics today his theories and way of thinking has drastically helped the science communities (Internet encyclopedia of philosophy). Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://iep.utm.edu/processp/. -
Death
On December 30th, 1947 Alfred North Whitehead died in Cambridge according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Desmet and Irvine). Desmet, Ronald, and Andrew David Irvine. “Alfred North Whitehead.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 10 Nov. 2022, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/whitehead/.