Bertrand Russell

Bertrand's Life

Bertrand was born in Trellech, Wales on May 18, 1872. His full name is Bertrand Arthur William Russell. His father's name was John Russell and his grandfather, John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, was the British Prime Minister in the 1840's and 1860's. Both of Russell's parents came from aristocratic families.

Russell was the youngest in his family. He had two older siblings, Frank and Rachel. In 1874 his mother and sister died of diptheria. Two years later, his father died of bronchitis. Bertrand and his older brother Frank were sent to go live with their grandparents. In 1878, Bertrand's grandfather died.

Bertrand was a very troubled teenager. Having to deal with multiple family deaths, he often thought about killing himslef. His interests were religion and mathematics. He said that the only reason he didn't kill himself is that he wanted to know more about math. He was educated at home by tutors and spent his free time in his grandfather's library.

Russell won a scholarship to Trinity College at Cambridge and graduated with a B.A. in mathematics three years later.

Russell met his first wife when he was 17. Her name was Alys Pearsall Smith. He married her when he was 22 in 1894. In 1902 he realized he did not love her anymore and began to have affairs outside of his marriage. He divorced her 19 years later in 1921.

During his marriage to Alys, Russell accomplished many things. He discovered "Russell's Paradox" in 1901. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1908. In 1910 he published the first three volumes of his book "Principa Mathematica" which he wrote with Alfred North Whitehead. This book made him world famous in his feild.

Russell was a pacifist. In 1916 during the first World War, Russell was fined 110 pounds and dissmissed from Trinity College because he violated the Defence of Realm Act. Two years later he was imprisoned for 6 monthes for Anti-War related activities.

When Russell's lover Dora Black was five months pregnat he arranged a quick divorce from his wife Alys. Six days later he married Dora. They had two children together, John Conrad Russell and Katharine Jane Russell.

Russell's brother Frank died in 1931 and Bertrand became 3rd Earl Russell.

In 1935, he divorced Dora because she was having an affiar. The next year he married Patricia (Peter) Spence. She had been his children's governess since 1930. Russell and Patricia had one son, Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell, who later became an involved figure in the Liberal Democrat party.

In 1940, he was appointed professor at the City College of New York, but was later fired because of public outcry. According to the public, Bertrand was "morally unfit".

In the 1940's and 50's, Bertrand appeared in many broadcasts on the BBC. He was world famous outside academic circles, and like his friend Einstein, he had acheived a celebrity status as an intellectual. In 1949, he was awarded the Order of Merit, and the next year, won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Two years after winning the Nobel, Russell divorced Peter and married Edith Finch, who was a long time friend.

During the Vietnam War, Russell started to practice his old ways. He became the President of the Campign for Nuclear Disarment. He wrote many letters to world leaders and became increasinly vocal about his opposement of the United State's government's policies. He was imprisoned for one week in 1961 for anti-war protests.

On February 2, 1970, Bertrand Russell died of infulenza in Penrhyndeudraeth, Wales. He asked in his will for his ashes to be scattered.

Math not War!