George Boole, the first Professor of Mathematics at Queen’s College Cork, laid the foundations in the latter half of the nineteenth century for a system of mathematical expression which formed the basis for all modern computer languages. The digitisation of a recently discovered collection of papers provides a rare opportunity to preserve and share Boole’s sociological and scientific thoughts.  

The EMC funded project is an extension to a current UCC Library project to digitise the George Boole collection of letters (over 4,000 digital items) at UCC, to make them accessible to the general public via the Internet. This is a significant project which has been in preparation for more than two years with an expected completion date of June 2011.  

UCC wishes to acknowledge the initial significant support provided by UCC graduate, Daragh Horgan and his wife Anne, whose generosity in 2006 established the project in the first instance, and EMC for enabling these additional enhancements to be undertaken. Partnerships with individuals and with the corporate sector are key to enabling the undertaking of such highly significant work as represented in this project.

The UCC Boole Library is one of eight organisations from around the world to be awarded ‘Information Heritage Trust’ grants for projects that digitise, preserve, protect and improve access to invaluable cultural information in communities around the world.  “The EMC Heritage Trust project is dedicated to helping local community organisations worldwide preserve and protect these historic artifacts so that future generations can continue to enjoy and learn from them,” said Bill Teuber, Vice Chairman, EMC Corporation.

Picture:  George Boole

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