Alicia Boole (1860-1940): The Woman from Cork who 'Saw the Fourth Dimension'

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There is no doubt that ‘Boole’ is in the air when walking through UCC’s main campus. The Boole Library, Boole Lecture Theatres, the impressive bronze bust looking on as the crowds pass – everyone who passes through UCC is aware of George Boole, or perhaps even studied Boolean algebra, the mathematics he developed which became the cradle of the Digital Age. However, it may surprise you that another Boole, born in Cork 165 years ago, developed one of the methods we use today to visualise objects from the fourth dimension. George and Mary Boole’s daughter, Alicia, was an incredibly gifted mathematician, and though her story is known by few, she has entered the annals of mathematics as ‘the woman who saw the fourth dimension’.