Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) — British philosopher, mathematician and social critic. He wrote Principles of Mathematics (1903), and collaborated with A N Whitehead in Principia Mathematica (1910--13).

In 1916 his pacifism lost him his fellowship at Trinity College (restored in 1944), and in 1918 he served six months in prison. From the 1920s he lived by lecturing and journalism, and became increasingly controversial. The evils of Fascism led him to renounce pacifism in 1939. After 1949 he became a champion of nuclear disarmament, and engaged in unprecedented correspondence with several world leaders.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.

Russell is generally recognized as one of the founders of analytic philosophy and mathematical logic but is better known to the public as an advocate of unpopular causes. Infringements, in any form, on the full exercise of the human intellect were attacked in his many speeches and essays notably in “A Free Man’s Worship” and “Why I Am Not a Christian.”

Besides Russell’s professional work in mathematics and philosophy his popular writings in both the sciences and the humanities have influenced generations of readers. He remained a prominent public figure until his death at the age of 97.

For conversations made from his essay

from the essay