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Birth
Bertrand Arthur William Russell was born in Trelleck, Wales, UK, on May 18, 1872, to aristocratic parents Viscount Amberley and Katherine Louisa. -
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The Life of Bertrand Arthur William Russell
British logician Bertrand Russell was born May 18, 1872. Orphaned at age 3, he was raised by his grandmother and educated against his father's wishes. Fascinated by mathematics, he excelled in his student life.
During his lifetime, Russell published 70 books, 2000 articles, married 4 times, became involved in controversies, and was honored and disdained equally. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950, highlighting a career dedicated to the logic. He died at age 97, February 2, 1970. -
Russell's Paradox Discovered
While working on his new theory of logic for his upcoming book, Principles of Mathematics, Russell discovered a contradiction that startled him. While placing subjects in classes, some classes are members of itself, while others are not. We should then be able to construct the class of all classes that are not members of itself.
Years later, Russell would apply his paradox to his theory, with devastating results. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xauCQpnbNAM&t=108s -
Principles of Mathematics Published
Russell conceived an idea to demonstrate that math not only had logical foundations but was nothing but logic itself. Stating his case at length in his 1903 release, The Principles of Mathematics, he argued that the entirety of mathematics could be reduced to a few single statements that made no use of specific mathematical notions, instead of confining them to purely logical notions, i.e. proposition or class. Doing so would free them from subjectivity and provide immunity from doubt. -
Principia Mathematica Released
Principia Mathematica was the title of Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead's classic of symbolic logic. First released in 1910, a second volume was added in 1911, and a third in 1912. Written as a defense of the idea that math is connected to and significantly reducible by logic, or logicism, it became instrumental in developing modern mathematical logic and became a major force for research into the foundations for math throughout the 20th century. -
Nobel Prize for Literature
On December 11, 1950, Bertram Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature: (…) in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideas and freedom of thought. (NPC 1950) Russell’s contributions to logic, the philosophy of mathematics and epistemology established him as one of the foremost philosophers of the 20th century. To the public, however, he was best known as a campaigner for peace, and a popular writer on society, politics, and morality. -
Death
Earl Bertrand Russel died from influenza at the age of 97, in Merionethshire, Wales, on February 2, 1970. He was survived by his fourth wife, Edith, and his 4 children.
