CHAPTER 5

"The Real Moriarty"

p. 52

Byron's epochal postwar generational lament, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage: a confusing title, perhaps, until you know that "childe" in this context was a synonym for "knight."

Newton, the rockstar rationalist seer of the Industrial Age: stories of the sale of supposed Newtonian hair and a tooth told by Brandan Dooley, editor of The Continued Exercise of Reason: Public Addresses by George Boole, in his introduction, p16. Higher prices for the tooth are given on the net, possibly for later sales: at one point, I am told, it entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive tooth in history, although that honor seems to fall to John Lennon as I write.

54

Lord Byron's first speech on ascending to the House of Lords: And guess what, through the magic of the internet and the British Parliament's official record of proceedings, Hansard, you can follow this debate. See Hansard, Debate on the 1812 Framework Bill.

55

Boole . . . saw himself as following in the footsteps of Aristotle: and he wasn't the only one. See The Atlantic, March 20, 2017, "How Aristotle Created the Computer."

59

a vivid description of her brother's mental state: Desmond McHale and Yvonne Cohen, New Light on George Boole, p41.

60

the switching circuit theory of Japanese engineer Akira Nakashima: Radomir S. Stanković, Jaakko Astola, "Reprints from the Early Days of Information Sciences: TICSP Series on the Contributions of Akira Nakashima to Switching Theory," TICSP Series #40, Tampere International Center for Signal Processing, Tampere University of Technology, 2008.

61

After George's death, Mary solicited recollections from his many friends and colleagues: see Desmond McHale and Yvonne Cohen, New Light on George Boole.

a trio of long letters supplied by Boole's mathematician confidante Joseph Hill: ibid, p184