Russell, Bertrand (Arthur William), 3rd Earl Russell (1872-1970)

British philosopher and mathematician who contributed to the development of modern mathematical logic and wrote about social issues. His works include Principia Mathematica 1910-13 (with A N Whitehead), in which he attempted to show that mathematics could be reduced to a branch of logic; The Problems of Philosophy 1912; and A History of Western Philosophy 1946. He was an outspoken liberal pacifist. Nobel Prize for Literature 1950. Russell was born in Monmouthshire, the grandson of Prime Minister John Russell. He studied mathematics and philosophy at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became a lecturer 1910. His pacifist attitude in World War I lost him the lectureship, and he was imprisoned for six months for an article he wrote in a pacifist journal. His Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy 1919 was written in prison. He and his wife ran a progressive school 1927-32. After visits to the USSR and China, he went to the USA 1938 and taught at many universities. In 1940, a US court disqualified him from teaching at City College of New York because of his liberal moral views. He later returned to England and resumed his fellowship at Trinity College. Russell was a life-long pacifist except during World War II. From 1949 he advocated nuclear disarmament and until 1963 was on the Committee of 100, an offshoot of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Among his other works are Principles of Mathematics 1903, Principles of Social Reconstruction 1917, Marriage and Morals 1929, An Enquiry into Meaning and Truth 1940, New Hopes for a Changing World 1951, and Autobiography 1967-69.