Bertrand Russell

Biography

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual—one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. His Principia Mathematica (with Whitehead) revolutionized mathematical logic, while his popular philosophical works made complex ideas accessible to general readers. Russell won the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature for his writing championing humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought. A lifelong activist, he campaigned against nuclear weapons, imperialism, and the Vietnam War. His intellectual range—from technical logic to political philosophy to popular science—is virtually unmatched in modern intellectual history.