John Venn.

See also John Venn (regicide).

John Venn FRS (Hull,Yorkshire, August 4, 1834 – Cambridge, April 4, 1923), was a British logician and philosopher, who is famous for the Venn diagrams, which are used in many fields, including set theory, probability, logic, statistics, and computer science. Image File history File links John_Venn. ... Image File history File links John_Venn. ... John Venn was one of the regicides of King Charles I. Categories: People stubs | Regicide ... The Fellowship of the Royal Society was founded in 1660. ... Hull or Kingston upon Hull is a British city situated on the north bank of the Humber estuary. ... is the 216th day of the year (217th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1834 (MDCCCXXXIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about the city in England. ... is the 94th day of the year (95th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A logician is a philosopher, mathematician, or other whose topic of scholarly study is logic. ... A philosopher is a person who thinks deeply regarding people, society, the world, and/or the universe. ... A Venn diagram of sets A, B, and C Venn diagrams (or set diagrams) are illustrations used in the branch of mathematics known as set theory. ... Set theory is the mathematical theory of sets, which represent collections of abstract objects. ... Probability is the likelihood or chance that something is the case or will happen. ... Logic (from Classical Greek λόγος logos; meaning word, thought, idea, argument, account, reason, or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. ... This article is about the field of statistics. ... Computer science, or computing science, is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. ...

Life and work

Stained glass window at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, commemorating Venn and the Venn diagram.

John Venn's mother, Martha Sykes, came from Swanland near Hull, Yorkshire and died while John was still quite young. His father was the Rev Henry Venn who, at the time of John's birth, was the rector of the parish of Drypool near Hull. Henry Venn, himself a fellow of Queens', was from a family of distinction. His father, John's grandfather, was the Rev John Venn who had been the rector of Clapham in south London. He became the leader of the Clapham Sect, a group of evangelical Christians centred on his church who campaigned for prison reform and the abolition of slavery and cruel sports. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (380x736, 46 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Venn diagram John Venn ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (380x736, 46 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Venn diagram John Venn ... Full name Gonville and Caius College Motto Named after Edmund Gonville & John Caius Previous names Gonville Hall (1348), Gonville & Caius (1557) Established 1348, refounded 1557 Sister College(s) Brasenose College Master Sir Christopher Hum Location Trinity St Undergraduates 468 Postgraduates 291 Homepage Boatclub Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge is a... Swanland is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire in England, with a population of around 4000. ... Hull or Kingston upon Hull is a British city situated on the north bank of the Humber estuary. ... Full name The Queens College of Saint Margaret and Saint Bernard in the University of Cambridge Motto Floreat Domus May this House Flourish Named after - Previous names - Established 1448 Sister College(s) Pembroke College President Lord Eatwell Location Silver Street Undergraduates 490 Postgraduates 270 Homepage Boatclub The Gatehouse, as... For other places with the same name, see Clapham (disambiguation). ... The Clapham Sect was an influential group of like-minded social reformers in England at the beginning of the nineteenth century (active c. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Relation to other religions Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Christianity Portal This box:      Evangelicalism is a theological perspective in Protestant Christianity which identifies with the gospel. ... For other uses, see Christian (disambiguation). ... Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, aiming at a more effective penal system. ... This article is about the abolition of slavery. ...

Venn's father also played a prominent role in the evangelical Christian movement. The Society for Missions in Africa and the East was founded by evangelical clergy of the Church of England in 1799 and in 1812 it was renamed the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East. Venn's father was secretary to this Society from 1841. He moved to Highgate near London in order to carry out his duties. He held this position until his death in 1873. The Church Mission Society (formerly the Church Missionary Society) is a voluntary society working with the Anglican Church and other Protestant Christians around the world. ... This article is on the London suburb. ...

John was brought up strictly. It was expected that he would follow the family tradition into the Christian ministry. After Highgate School, Venn entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, in 1853. He graduated in 1857 and shortly afterwards he was elected a fellow of the college. He was ordained as a deacon at Ely in 1858 and became a priest in 1859. In 1862 he returned to Cambridge as a lecturer in moral sciences. Sir Roger Cholmeleys School at Highgate (Highgate School) is a British Independent School in London, England. ... Full name Gonville and Caius College Motto Named after Edmund Gonville & John Caius Previous names Gonville Hall (1348), Gonville & Caius (1557) Established 1348, refounded 1557 Sister College(s) Brasenose College Master Sir Christopher Hum Location Trinity St Undergraduates 468 Postgraduates 291 Homepage Boatclub Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge is a... 1853 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... For other uses, see Deacon (disambiguation). ... Front of Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral (in full, The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely) is the principal church of the diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Ely. ... Year 1858 (MDCCCLVIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1859 (MDCCCLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about 1862 . ...

Venn's main area of interest was logic and he published three texts on the subject. He wrote The Logic of Chance which introduced the frequency interpretation of probability in 1866, Symbolic Logic which introduced the Venn diagrams in 1881, and The Principles of Empirical Logic in 1889. Statistical regularity has motivated the development of the relative frequency concept of probability. ... 1866 (MDCCCLXVI) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... A Venn diagram of sets A, B, and C Venn diagrams (or set diagrams) are illustrations used in the branch of mathematics known as set theory. ... Year 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

In 1883, Venn was elected to the Royal Society. In 1897, he wrote a history of his college, called The Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College,1349–1897. He commenced a compilation of biographical notes of the alumni of Cambridge University, a work which was continued by his son, John Archibald Venn (1883-1958) and published in 10 volumes from 1922-1953. For other uses, see Royal Society (disambiguation). ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Memorials

The Venn Building, University of Hull

• A stained glass window in the dining hall of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, commemorates Venn's work.
• Venn is commemorated at the University of Hull by the Venn Building, built in 1928.
• In a recent BBC poll, Venn was voted as the third greatest mathematician of modern times, narrowly beaten by Sir Isaac Newton and Leonhard Euler, who ranked first and second respectively.^{[citation needed]}

Image File history File linksMetadata HUU.jpg‎ [edit] Summary Copied from http://www. ... Image File history File linksMetadata HUU.jpg‎ [edit] Summary Copied from http://www. ... Strictly speaking, stained glass is glass that has been painted with silver stain and then fired. ... Full name Gonville and Caius College Motto Named after Edmund Gonville & John Caius Previous names Gonville Hall (1348), Gonville & Caius (1557) Established 1348, refounded 1557 Sister College(s) Brasenose College Master Sir Christopher Hum Location Trinity St Undergraduates 468 Postgraduates 291 Homepage Boatclub Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge is a... The Venn Building The University of Hull, also known as Hull University, is an English university located in Hull (or Kingston upon Hull), a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Sir Isaac Newton in Knellers portrait of 1689. ... Euler redirects here. ...

Works online

• "Consistency and Real Inference", from Mind Volume 1, Number 1 (January 1876).
• Symbolic Logic (1881)
• "On the employment of geometrical diagrams for the sensible representation of logical propositions" (1883) Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vol. 4, pages 47 – 59
• The Logic of Chance: An Essay on the Foundations and Province of the Theory of Probability
  • First Edition (1866): Google Book Seach
  • Second Edition (1876): Google Book Search or Internet Archive
  • Third Edition (1888): Google Book Search or Internet Archive
• Caius College (1901)
• The Annals of Gonville and Caius College (1904) - by John Caius, edited by John Venn

Mind is a well-respected British journal, currently published by Oxford University Press, which deals with philosophy in the analytic tradition. ...

References

• John Venn (1880). "On the Diagrammatic and Mechanical Representation of Propositions and Reasonings". Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 9 (59): 1--18. 

• "Obituary (John Venn)" (1926). Proc. Royal. Soc. London A 110: x - xi. 

Links

• The Venn archives clarify the confusing timeline of the various Venns.
• Obituary of John Venn (New York Times)
• Portrait of Venn by Charles Brock, and a link to a site about Venn
• Another (clearer) view of the Venn stained glass window
• Grave of John Venn