In August 2021, I stumbled down a Wikipedia rabbit hole from Bézier Curves to String Art to a tantalizingly brief biographical sketch accompanied by a single black-and-white photo of an old woman posed at a writing desk and meeting the camera's gaze with an inscrutable countenance. Mary Everest Boole, the article informed me, was a self-taught mathematician; innovative educator; prolific author; progressive social commentator; wife and collaborator to famed logician George Boole; and mother of five daughters who made their own notable contributions in fields ranging from chemistry to four-dimensional geometry to revolutionary literature. Who was this fascinating character, and how had I never heard of her???

This website is my answer to those questions. It is very much a work in progress, so please do check back! Eventually I hope to offer a bibliography of existing writing about Mary, as well as a catalog of her published work and a bit of my own commentary.

In the meantime, you can visit the Links page for more information on Mary, and for a lovely entry point into her work itself I highly recommend Philosophy and Fun of Algebra at the Internet Archive. Thank you for joining me on this journey to learn more about the remarkable life and writing of Mary Everest Boole!

Algebraically yours,

Catherine

September 2022