John Venn

John Venn lived from 1834 to 1923. He was an English mathematician, logician, and philosopher. He is famous for making Venn diagrams. Venn diagrams show how groups are related by using circles that overlap.

People use Venn diagrams in many subjects. These subjects include logic, set theory, probability, statistics, and computer science.

In 1866, Venn wrote a book named The Logic of Chance. In this book, he talked about how to understand chances or how likely something is to happen. He thought probability should be based on how often things actually happen.

Later, in 1881, Venn wrote another book called Symbolic Logic. In this book, he used ideas from George Boole. He showed how Venn diagrams could help make hard logic problems easier to understand.

Early life

John Venn was born on 4 August 1834 in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire. His parents were Martha Sykes and Rev. Henry Venn, a priest in Drypool. When John was three, his mother passed away. John’s family had strong ties to church work. His grandfather was also named John Venn. His father helped support missions in Africa and the East. He worked closely with William Wilberforce, who worked to end unfair treatment of people.

John began school in London at a school run by Sir Roger Cholmeley, now called Highgate School, together with his brother Henry in 1846. Later, he attended another school in Islington.

University life and career

In October 1853, John Venn went to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He did not like the Mathematical Tripos because it focused too much on exams. Venn liked to explore interesting ideas instead. He finished sixth in the exams in January 1857 and earned the title Wrangler.

After this, Venn decided to become an Anglican priest in 1859, following his family’s tradition. He worked in churches in Cheshunt and later in Mortlake.

In 1862, Venn returned to Cambridge to teach subjects like political economy, philosophy, probability theory, and logic. He wrote books, including The Logic of Chance in 1866 and Symbolic Logic in 1881. In 1880, he introduced special drawings called Venn diagrams to help people see ideas more clearly. These diagrams were based on earlier ideas known as "Eulerian Circles".

Venn taught students from many different Cambridge colleges, which was unusual at the time. In 1883, he left the clergy because it did not match his beliefs.

In 1903, he became President of the college, a job he kept until he passed away. With his son, Venn created a bowling machine for cricket that could make the ball spin. When the Australian cricket team visited Cambridge in 1909, the machine bowled one of their best players, Victor Trumper. The machine was rebuilt in 2024 by university engineers.

In 1883, Venn became a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1884, he received a special award called Sc.D.. He passed away on 4 April 1923.

Civic and personal life

In 1868, John Venn married Susanna Carnegie Edmonstone, and they had one son named John Archibald Venn. Their son also became a mathematician and later served as Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University.

Venn was very involved in his community in Cambridge. He helped with charity groups and was president of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society from 1908 to 1909. He supported equal voting rights for women and worked with his wife and others to encourage women to run for local government positions. Venn also enjoyed gardening and often won prizes for his beautiful roses and white carrots. He lived at Vicarsbrook on Chaucer Road in Cambridge from the early 1900s until he passed away in April 1923.

Memorials

In 2017, the Drypool Bridge in Hull was decorated with circles to honor John Venn. An unofficial blue plaque was placed nearby on Clarence Street. The University of Hull has a building named after him, called the Venn Building. There is a stained glass window in Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, showing his work. In London, Venn Street in Clapham has a street sign with a Venn diagram on it. In March 2019, a room in the Clay Farm Centre in Trumpington was named the Venn Touchdown.

Publications

John Venn wrote many important books and articles. He worked with his son on a big book called Alumni Cantabrigienses. This book tells stories of people who went to the University of Cambridge. It was published in ten parts between 1922 and 1953 by the Cambridge University Press.

He also wrote other well-known books like Symbolic Logic from 1881 and The Logic of Chance from 1866. He wrote many articles about logic and clear thinking. These books helped people learn to make good decisions and solve problems.