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2015 Press Releases

Boole celebrated at Chennai symposium

20 Nov 2015
The UCC-commissioned documentary film The Genius of George Boole, narrated by Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons, was screened as part of the Chennai symposium at IIT-M. Image: Oxford Film and Television.

UCC, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc) today celebrated the enormous contributions made by George Boole to technological society at a day-long symposium at the IIT-M campus in Chennai.

The symposium, the first of its kind outside Cork, is part of UCC’s celebrations of the bicentenary of the birth of George Boole, the forefather of the information age.

Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of the global consulting and IT services company Infosys delivered the keynote address, which was followed by a series of discussions on Boole’s influence on engineering and computer science and how Boolean logic preceded the age of digital technology.

Speakers including Dr Michael B. Murphy, President, UCC; Professor R. Nagarajan, Dean, International and Alumni Relations, IIT Madras;, Dr Ramesh Gopinath, Director, IBM Research and Professor Ramanujam, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, spoke about the relevance of Boole’s work in everyday society during a series of lectures and panel discussions.

The symposium concluded with a special screening of the UCC-commissioned documentary film The Genius of George Boole, narrated by Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons.

Dr. Michael Murphy, President, UCC said: “I am personally delighted that Chennai was chosen as the city to host our George Boole symposium and that both IIT-M and IMSc are our distinguished partners.”

“UCC’s links with the city are multiple and there is a natural link between both Cork and Chennai. Apart from being southern capitals and coastal cities we’re also centres of higher learning and research. We also have multiple academic and research collaborations with partner Universities and research institutes in the city thus making this event even more special. I can think of no better place for George Boole’s legacy to be debated, discussed and honoured.”

Welcoming the Boole Symposium to the campus, Professor R. Nagarajan, Dean of International and Alumni Relations at IIT Madras, recalled the long-standing relations between UCC and IIT Madras, involving research collaborations across multiple disciplines.

He welcomed IMSc's participation in view of the large number of IIT Madras alumni in the faculty ranks. "Professor Sunder, one of the co-organisers of this Symposium, is one of IITM's distinguished Alumni -- one of only 120 out of a total alumni population exceeding 40,000. It is heartening to see three major academic institutions come together to organise this tribute in concert with industry."

The education campaign UCC Brings Boole2School November saw over 1500 students from 10 schools in India participate and was one of the most important initiatives taken up to ensure the legacy of George Boole was far-reaching.

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