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The George Boole 200 Family History Project
The scale and depth of research into George Boole and his family members as well as the proposed high quality outputs has never before been undertaken. Extensive research, conducted by Olivia Frawley, Project Manager and Lorna Moloney, Project Genealogist with the support of the Adult Continuing Education Centre in UCC has provided a rich source of information to other George Boole 200 projects.
The project was originally intended to provide a comprehensive George Boole family tree leading up to the present day. However, a family tree on its own does not tell the stories of the notable lives and accomplishments of the people described. So it was decided to extend the scope of the project to include short histories of key Boole family members. Just click on the interactive family tree to see short narratives of some of the family members.
However the project did not stop there!
In order to widen the appeal of George Boole’s amazing story, an audio visual display about George Boole’s life and legacy was also created and produced, using this research. The display was produced by a UCC Graduate, Laura Mellett who holds a Master’s Degree in Interactive Media and a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture, both from UCC.
Olivia explains the thinking behind the visual display element of the project;
“when Laura and I were trying to come up with a theme for the visual display, I thought of Queen Elizabeth II’s and the Duke of Edinburgh’s state visit to Ireland in 2011, (at the invitation of the then President of Ireland, Mary McAleese).That visit had a theme of past, present and future.Interestingly, the future part of Her Majesty’s visit was here in Cork when she visited the Research Centre of Excellence, Tyndall National Institute which is also part of University College Cork (UCC).On that occasion, Queen Elizabeth was presented with a white scarf with an UCC crest and Boolean algebra on it. We decided to base the theme of the George Boole visual display loosely on the theme of Her Majesty’s visit”.
The inspiration for the visual display came from The Life and Work of George Boole, A Prelude to the Digital Age, by Professor Des MacHale, along with contributions from Lorna Moloney, Project Genealogist, Adult Continuing Education.
The final element to the project is the production of The George Boole Chronicles – A selection of short essays of George Boole and his family. The book, due to be launched on March 11th in the Lord Mayor’s Chambers, contains an exclusive selection of short essays with an array of images (some of which were never published before). It is designed to tell, in an engaging way, some aspects of the complex life of George Boole, the man and his remarkable family. Included are short histories on the place where he worked as Professor of Mathematics - Queen’s College Cork; the place where he died – Lichfield Cottage, and how he is remembered today. George Boole’s own family contributed greatly to this publication and their stories give an insight into how his genetic influence was such a powerful one. For anyone interested in food there is also a brand new recipe, George Boole’s College Puddings (adapted from an unpublished Victorian Recipe Book in the Boole Library, UCC) as well as a short story on Victorian dining in Cork. A limited number of tickets are available for this event. Please email georgeboole200@ucc.ie if you would like to attend.
As part of the Lifelong Learning Festival in Cork a public lecture will take place on March 23rd in the Aula Maxima, UCC at 7pm where Olivia Frawley will be joined by Professor Patrick Fitzpatrick. This lecture will bring George Boole and his work to life and all are welcome.
The special limited edition of George Boole Chronicles will be available to purchase at the UCC Visitors’ Centre from 11th March, 2015 at a special price of €10.00 (RRP €12.50).
“It is no exaggeration to say that George and Mary Boole produced a family of geniuses. Even among the third and fourth generations of their descendants are to be found an exceptionally large number of men and women who have contributed significantly to twentieth-century science and learning”.
- Desmond MacHale, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, UCC
UCC greatly and gratefully acknowledges the support of David Giltinan in enabling the project.
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