John Venn.

See also John Venn (regicide). John Venn (1586 – 1650 was an English Member of Parliament and one of the Regicides of King Charles I.

John Venn FRS (Hull,Yorkshire, August 4, 1834 – Cambridge, April 4, 1923), was a British logician and philosopher, who is famous for the Venn diagrams, which are used in many fields, including set theory, probability, logic, statistics, and computer science. The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 Kingston upon Hull ( almost invariably referred Events 70 - The Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans. Year 1834 ( MDCCCXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common The city of Cambridge (ˈkeɪmbrɪdʒ is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England Events 1581 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I. Year 1923 ( MCMXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Venn diagrams or set diagrams are Diagrams that show all hypothetically possible Logical relations between a finite collection of sets (groups Probability is the likelihood or chance that something is the case or will happen Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference. Statistics is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection analysis interpretation or explanation and presentation of Data. Computer science (or computing science) is the study and the Science of the theoretical foundations of Information and Computation and their

Life and work

Stained glass window at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, commemorating Venn and the Venn diagram. Gonville and Caius College Cambridge is a constituent College of Cambridge University, one of the world's most academically respected institutions

John Venn's mother, Martha Sykes, came from Swanland near Hull, Yorkshire and died while John was still quite young. Swanland is a village and Civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire in England. Kingston upon Hull ( almost invariably referred His father was the Rev Henry Venn who, at the time of John's birth, was the rector of the parish of Drypool near Hull. Introduction Drypool is an area within the city of Kingston upon Hull, England. Henry Venn, himself a fellow of Queens', was from a family of distinction. Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. His father, John's grandfather, was the Rev John Venn who had been the rector of Clapham in south London. Clapham is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth. He became the leader of the Clapham Sect, a group of evangelical Christians centred on his church who campaigned for prison reform and the abolition of slavery and cruel sports. The Clapham Sect was an influential group of like-minded Church of England social reformers in England at the beginning of the nineteenth century (active c Evangelicalism is a theological movement tradition and system of beliefs most closely associated with Protestant Christianity, which identifies with the Gospel A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside Prisons aiming at a more effective Penal system. Abolitionism was a political movement of the 18th and 19th century which sought to make Slavery illegal particularly in the United States and British West Indies

Venn's father also played a prominent role in the evangelical Christian movement. The Society for Missions in Africa and the East was founded by evangelical clergy of the Church of England in 1799 and in 1812 it was renamed the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East. The Church Mission Society, known as the Church Missionary Society in Australia and New Zealand is a group of evangelistic societies working with the Anglican Church Venn's father was secretary to this Society from 1841. He moved to Highgate near London in order to carry out his duties. Highgate is a suburb of North London on the north-eastern corner of Hampstead Heath. He held this position until his death in 1873.

John was brought up strictly. It was expected that he would follow the family tradition into the Christian ministry. After Highgate School, Venn entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, in 1853. Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate (Highgate School is a British Independent School in London England Gonville and Caius College Cambridge is a constituent College of Cambridge University, one of the world's most academically respected institutions Year 1853 ( MDCCCLIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common He graduated in 1857 and shortly afterwards he was elected a fellow of the college. Click here for Indian Rebellion of 1857 Year 1857 ( MDCCCLVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the He was ordained as a deacon at Ely in 1858 and became a priest in 1859. Deacon is a role in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind but which varies among theological and denominational traditions Ely Cathedral (in full The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely) is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely Year 1858 ( MDCCCLVIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Year 1859 ( MDCCCLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common In 1862 he returned to Cambridge as a lecturer in moral sciences. Year 1862 was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Monday

Venn's main area of interest was logic and he published three texts on the subject. He wrote The Logic of Chance which introduced the frequency interpretation of probability in 1866, Symbolic Logic which introduced the Venn diagrams in 1881, and The Principles of Empirical Logic in 1889. Frequency probability is the interpretation of probability that defines an event's Probability as the limit of its relative frequency in a large Year 1866 ( MDCCCLXVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Venn diagrams or set diagrams are Diagrams that show all hypothetically possible Logical relations between a finite collection of sets (groups Year 1881 ( MDCCCLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1889 ( MDCCCLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common

In 1883, Venn was elected to the Royal Society. The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 In 1897, he wrote a history of his college, called The Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College,1349–1897. Year 1897 ( MDCCCXCVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common He commenced a compilation of biographical notes of the alumni of Cambridge University, a work which was continued by his son, John Archibald Venn (1883-1958) and published in 10 volumes from 1922-1953.

Memorials

The Venn Building, University of Hull

• A stained glass window in the dining hall of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, commemorates Venn's work. For the Blackford Oakes novel see Stained Glass (novel The term stained glass refers either to the material of coloured Glass or to the art Gonville and Caius College Cambridge is a constituent College of Cambridge University, one of the world's most academically respected institutions
• Venn is commemorated at the University of Hull by the Venn Building, built in 1928. The University of Hull, also known as Hull University, is an English University, founded in 1927 located in Hull (or Kingston upon Hull) a
• In a recent BBC poll, Venn was voted as the third greatest mathematician of modern times, narrowly beaten by Sir Isaac Newton and Leonhard Euler, who ranked first and second respectively. Sir Isaac Newton, FRS (ˈnjuːtən 4 January 1643 31 March 1727) Biography Early years See also Isaac Newton's early life and achievements

Works online

• "Consistency and Real Inference", from Mind Volume 1, Number 1 (January 1876). Mind is a well-respected British journal currently published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Mind Association, which deals with Philosophy
• Symbolic Logic (1881)
• "On the employment of geometrical diagrams for the sensible representation of logical propositions" (1883) Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vol. 4, pages 47 – 59
• The Logic of Chance: An Essay on the Foundations and Province of the Theory of Probability
  • First Edition (1866): Google Book Seach
  • Second Edition (1876): Google Book Search or Internet Archive
  • Third Edition (1888): Google Book Search or Internet Archive
• Caius College (1901)
• The Annals of Gonville and Caius College (1904) - by John Caius, edited by John Venn

References

• John Venn (1880). "On the Diagrammatic and Mechanical Representation of Propositions and Reasonings". Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 9 (59): 1--18.  

• "Obituary (John Venn)" (1926). Proc. Royal. Soc. London A 110: x - xi.  

Links

• The Venn archives clarify the confusing timeline of the various Venns.
• Obituary of John Venn (New York Times)
• Portrait of Venn by Charles Brock, and a link to a site about Venn
• Another (clearer) view of the Venn stained glass window
• Grave of John Venn