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Birth of Betrand Arthur William Russell
"Russell was from a long line of political lineage, his grandfather the 1st Earl, he the 3rd. His early life was marred by tragedy, losing his sister, parents, grandfather, leaving him to grow up with his brother and grandmother. He was educated at home, became absorbed in mathematics. His first philosophical work at a young age led him to criticize his beliefs and abandon them" (Encyclopedia Brittanica). -
Attended Trinity College to study Mathematics
"Here, he made lifelong friends in the secret society called the Apostles that included some of the most influential philosophers of that time. Here he abandoned his study of Mathematics for philosophy. Here he also won a fellowship at Trinity on the strength of a thesis titled ‘An Essay on the Foundations of Geometry” which was also published in his first book in 1897" (Encyclopedia Brittanica). -
Published his first political work, “German Social Democracy”
"Although sympathetic to the reformist aims of the German socialist movement, it contained some farsighted criticisms of Marxist dogmas and was the outcome of a visit to Berlin in 1895 where he formulated an ambitious scheme of writing two series of books, one on the philosophy of sciences and the other on social and political questions"(Encyclopedia Brittanica). -
Wrote “The Principles of Mathematics”
"He argues that the whole of mathematics could be derived from a few axioms and square root, but was confined to logical notions such as proposition and class. Doing this he said that not only could the truths of mathematics be shown to be immune from doubt, but they could also be freed from any taint of subjectivity, like in his earlier works Kantian view that geometry describes special intuition. The ‘Russell Paradox’ at the very heart of the system of logic" (Brittanica). -
Wrote “On denoting”
"Was published in the philosophy journal Mind. Included is a video on his thoughts on philosophy"(Encyclopedia Brittanica). Click here to watch -
Elected to fellow of Royal Society.
"In his writing, he advocates for his theory of denoting phrases 'denoting phrases never have any meaning in themselves but every proposition in whose verbal expression they occur have meaning'"(Encyclopedia Brittanica). -
Wrote “Principia Mathematica” with Albert North Whitehead
“Detailed theory talks of simple theory and ramified theory. He defended logicism and the theory of mathematics in some sense reducible to logic. He explained first that all mathematical truths can be translated into logical truths. Second, all mathematical proofs can be recast as logical proofs”(Irvine). -
Wrote “The Problems of Philosophy”
"Written in part to exposit in a less technical way the main ideas of his and Whitehead's Principia Mathematica, including the theory of descriptions" (Irvine). -
Career at Trinity appeared to come to an end after conviction of Anti-War activities
“It was while in prison that he wrote his well-received Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (1919). He did not return to Trinity until 1944”(Irvine). -
Wrote “Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy”
"Written in part to exposit in a less technical way the main ideas of his and Whitehead's Principia Mathematica, including the theory of descriptions" (Encyclopedia Brittanica). -
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Received the Nobel Peace prize for his literature
Quick video from BBC on Betrand and his contributions during our time, Click here -
Anti-war and Anti-nuclear protestor and activist
“Russell became something of an inspiration to large numbers of idealistic youth as a result of his continued anti-war and anti-nuclear protests. Together with Albert Einstein, he released the Russell-Einstein Manifesto in 1955, calling for the curtailment of nuclear weapons. His work brought together scientists concerned about the proliferation of nuclear weapons and was imprisoned for his anti-nuclear protests in 1961”(Irvine) -
Death of Bertrand Russell
Passed away at the age of 98 from the flu. -
Betrand's Message to Future Generations
Betrand was asked what his message would be to future generations and this is what he had to say:Betrand's message-click this hyperlink
