John Venn

Jul 15, 2024

Learn about John Venn, the creator of Venn diagrams, his transition from mathematics to historical writing. Explore his diverse interests, marriage, introduction of Venn diagrams, evolution of logic diagrams, and shift to non-mathematical works. Discover his statistical contributions, cricket bowling machine invention, and modern engineering team's reconstruction.

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Intro

00:00 • 3min

John Venn: The Early Years and Mathematical Influences

02:41 • 6min

Marriage of John Venn and Susanna Carnegie Edmondstone, Novels, and Venn Diagrams

09:03 • 6min

Evolution of Venn Diagrams and Logic

14:40 • 9min

Transition of Interests and Works of John Venn in the Late 1880s

23:20 • 4min

John Venn: From Statistical Works to Cricket Bowling Machine

27:42 • 10min

Summer Fun and Shelter Pets

38:00 • 2min

John Venn created the Venn diagram, and though he’s an important figure in the fields of mathematics and logic, he eventually left that work behind to write historical accounts of the places and people that were important in his life.

Research:

Baron, Margaret E.. “A Note on the Historical Development of Logic Diagrams: Leibniz, Euler and Venn.” The Mathematical Gazette, vol. 53, no. 384, 1969, pp. 113–25. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3614533
Bassett, Troy J. "Author: Susanna Carnegie Venn." At the Circulating Library: A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837—1901, 3 June 2024, http://www.victorianresearch.org/atcl/show_author.php?aid=661
com Editors. “John Venn Biography.: A&E. April 2, 2014. https://www.biography.com/scientists/john-venn
Boyer, Carl B.. "Leonhard Euler". Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Jun. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leonhard-Euler
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Boolean algebra". Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 May. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Boolean-algebra
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Kingston upon Hull". Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Jun. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/place/Kingston-upon-Hull
“A Cricket Sensation.” Saffron Walden Weekly News. June 11, 1909. https://www.newspapers.com/image/800046974/?match=1&terms=John%20Venn%20cricket%20machine
Collier, Irwin. “Cambridge. Guide to the Moral Sciences Tripos. James Ward, editor, 1891.” Feb 26, 2018. https://www.irwincollier.com/cambridge-on-the-moral-sciences-tripos-james-ward-editor-1891/
Duignan, Brian. "John Venn". Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Jun. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Venn
Duignan, Brian. "Venn diagram". Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 Apr. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Venn-diagram
Gordon, Neil. “Venn: the person behind the famous diagrams – and why his work still matters today.” EconoTimes. April 14, 2023. https://www.econotimes.com/Venn-the-person-behind-the-famous-diagrams--and-why-his-work-still-matters-today-1654353
Hall, Madeleine. “The Improbably Genius of John Venn.” The Spectator. April 4, 2023. https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-improbable-genius-of-john-venn/
“History.” Highgate School. https://www.highgateschool.org.uk/about/our-history/
“The Jargon.” Queens’ College Cambridge. https://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/visiting-the-college/history/university-facts/the-jargon
“John Venn Of Caius.” The British Medical Journal, vol. 1, no. 3250, 1923, pp. 641–42. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20423118
Lenze, Wolfgang. “Leibniz: Logic.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://iep.utm.edu/leib-log/
O’Connor, J.J. and E.F. Robertson. “John Venn.” Mac Tutor. School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland. October 2003.
“Professor Hugh Hunt leads engineering team to recreate historic cricket bowling machine.” Trinity College Cambridge. June 6, 2024. https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/professor-hugh-hunt-leads-engineering-team-to-recreate-historic-bowling-machine-that-bowled-out-australian-cricketers-more-than-100-years-ago/
Venn, John. “The logic of chance. An essay on the foundations and province of the theory of probability, with especial reference to its logical bearings and its application to moral and social science.” London. Macmillan, 1876. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/50424309/page/n19/mode/2up
Venn, John. “The principles of empirical or inductive logic.” 1889. https://archive.org/details/principlesempir00venngoog
B.H. “John Venn.” Obituary notices of fellows deceased. Royal Society Publishing. April 1, 1926. Accessed online: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10.1098/rspa.1926.0036
Young, Angus. “John Venn Inspired £325k makeover of Hull's Drypool Bridge is now complete.” Hull Live. June 5, 2017. https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/drypool-bridge-turned-work-art-91547

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