Bertrand Russell

analytic philosophy

With Frege, Moore and Wittgenstein: its tool is the logical analysis of language.

💡 Did you know? Russell, with Frege and Moore, is a founder of analytic philosophy, which puts clarity and logic at the centre.

Principia Mathematica

With Alfred North Whitehead (1910 to 1913): after hundreds of pages, 1+1=2 is finally proved.

💡 Did you know? The „Principia Mathematica“ with Whitehead took hundreds of pages just to prove that 1 + 1 = 2.

Russell's paradox

The set of all sets that do not contain themselves: does it contain itself? Frege's life's work trembled.

💡 Did you know? Russell's paradox (the set of all sets that do not contain themselves) shook the foundations of mathematics.

Nobel Prize in Literature

For his varied writings 'in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought'.

💡 Did you know? Russell received the Nobel Prize not for mathematics or logic but for literature, for his humanist writings.

pacifism

Six months in 1918: he also lost his post at Trinity College, Cambridge.

💡 Did you know? In prison he calmly wrote an 'Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy'.

Russell-Einstein Manifesto

Einstein's last signature before his death: it gave rise to the Pugwash scientists' conferences.

💡 Did you know? The 1955 Russell-Einstein Manifesto warned of the danger of nuclear war and led to the Pugwash movement.

Russell's teapot

No one can disprove that a teapot orbits the sun: the burden of proof lies with the claimant.

💡 Did you know? „Russell's teapot“: whoever claims a teapot orbits between Earth and Mars must prove it: not the doubters the opposite.

A History of Western Philosophy

Written with British wit: financially, the book rescued its chronically hard-up author.

💡 Did you know? His „History of Western Philosophy“ became a worldwide success and contributed much to his Nobel Prize.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Russell confessed that in the young Austrian he saw the genius he had been waiting for.

💡 Did you know? In Cambridge Russell mentored the young Wittgenstein and called him the „most perfect example of genius“ he knew.

prime minister

Lord John Russell: Bertrand later inherited the title 'Earl Russell' but preferred to sit awkwardly in the Lords.

💡 Did you know? Russell came from the high aristocracy: his grandfather was twice British prime minister.

a sit-down protest against nuclear weapons

As the first president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND): whose symbol became the worldwide peace sign.

💡 Did you know? Even at 89 Russell was briefly jailed for a sit-in protest against nuclear weapons.

97

He died in Wales in 1970: alert, combative and of indestructible humour to the last.

💡 Did you know? Russell lived to 97 and remained politically active as a pacifist and campaigner to the very end.

Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher, logician and pacifist: a founder of analytic philosophy and a Nobel laureate in literature.

💡 Did you know? His paradox of the „set of all sets“ shook the foundations of mathematics around 1900.