Desmond MacHale (born 28 January 1946) is an Irish

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

who is Emeritus

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of Mathematics at

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

. He is an author and speaker on several subjects, including

George Boole George Boole ( ; 2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was a largely self-taught English mathematician, philosopher and logician, most of whose short career was spent as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork in Ireland. H ...

, lateral thinking puzzles, and humour. He has published over 80 books, some of which have been translated into languages including Danish, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, German, Korean, and Japanese.

Biography

Des MacHale was born in

Castlebar Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Ireland. Developing around a 13th-century castle of the de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal point for the surrounding hinterland. Wi ...

, County Mayo. He earned his BSc and MSc in mathematical science at

University College Galway The University of Galway () is a public university, public research university located in the city of Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Ga ...

in 1967 and 1968, and completed his PhD at the

University of Keele Keele University is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, it was granted university status by Royal Charter as ...

in 1972 under Hans Liebeck. Since then he has been at

, where his research has focussed on

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

and ring theory, especially Boolean rings.Celebrating George Boole's Bicentenary: Professor Desmond MacHale
/ref> In 1985 MacHale published ''George Boole: His Life and Work'', the first book length biography of Boole.
/ref> In 2014, a year ahead of Boole's bicentennial, this was reissued in revised and expanded form as ''The Life and Work of George Boole: A Prelude to the Digital Age''. He is considered the world's leading expert on Boole and in 2018 published another book ''New Light on George Boole'', co-authored with Yvonne Cohen. MacHale has also authored books on other subjects, including brainteasers and he has written more than 30 books of jokes and discussions of humour. His ''Comic Sections: The Book of Mathematical Jokes, Humour, Wit and Wisdom'' is a book which combines two of his interests. He has written over a dozen books of

lateral thinking Lateral thinking is a manner of Problem solving, solving problems using an indirect and creativity, creative approach via reasoning that is not immediately obvious. Synonymous to thinking outside the box, it involves ideas that may not be obtai ...

problems with author Paul Sloane; and many of these problems are featured on the

Futility Closet ''Futility Closet'' is a blog, podcast, and database started in 2005 by editorial manager and publishing journalist Greg Ross. As of February 2021 the database totaled over 11,000 items. They range over the fields of history, literature, langu ...

website. He has written several books about the 1952 American film, '' The Quiet Man''. He has spoken at schools, on radio, and television on the subjects of mathematics, humour, and puzzles. MacHale designed the logo of the Irish Mathematical Society. He is a longtime opponent of smoking, and for decades has played a role within the Irish Association of Non-Smokers. He appeared on

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

's '' The Late Late Show'' as early as the 1980s in an attempt to educate the public about the dangers of smoking. His son is the actor Dominic MacHale, known for The Young Offenders.

Superbrain competition

From 1984 to 2007, MacHale ran the Superbrain Competition at

, including setting the questions and grading the papers. This annual competitive mathematics exam, now run by a committee of mathematics faculty, is open to UCC undergraduate and master's level students, and consists of 10 questions to be done in 3 hours. A book of the questions (with solutions) from 1984 to 2008 was published in 2011 as ''The First Twenty-Five Years of the Superbrain'' by Diarmuid Early & Des MacHale.

Selected books

Books by Des MacHale include: * 2023 ''Sip & Solve Two-Minute Brainteasers'' (with Paul Sloane), Puzzlewright, * 2022 ''Comic Sections Plus'', Logic Press, * 2020 ''The Poetry of George Boole'', Logic Press, * 2020 ''Number and Letter Puzzles'', Logic Press, * 2018 ''New Light on George Boole'' (with Yvonne Cohen), Cork University Press, * 2016 ''Lateral Thinking Puzzles in Mathematics'', (with Paul Sloane), Puzzlewright, * 2015 ''Mathematical Lateral Thinking Puzzles'' (with Paul Sloane), Sterling Publishing, * 2014 ''The First Twenty-Five Years of the Superbrain'' (with Diarmuid Early), United Kingdom Mathematics Trust, * 2014 ''The First Twenty-Five Years of the Superbrain'' (with Diarmuid Early), United Kingdom Mathematics Trust, * 2014 ''The Life and Work of George Boole : a Prelude to the Digital Age'', Cork University Press, * 2006 ''Puzzleology: Tough Puzzles for Kids'', Mercier Press, * 2004 ''Picture The quiet man : an illustrated celebration'', Appletree, * 2002 ''Sit & Solve - Lateral Thinking Puzzles'' (with Paul Sloane), Puzzlewright, * 1995 ''Best Irish Humorous Quotations'', Mercier Press, * 1993 ''Comic Sections: The Book of Mathematical Jokes, Humour, Wit and Wisdom'', Boole Press, * 1989 ''The World's Best Maggie Thatcher Jokes'', Angus & Robertson, * 1987 ''The Book of Irish Bull: Better than All the Udders'', Mercier Press, * 1985 ''George Boole: His Life and Work'', Boole Press,

Awards and honours

On George Boole Day, 2 November 2015, University College Cork awarded MacHale an honorary doctorate of literature in recognition of his contributions to scholarship on Boole. On 15 October 2016 Maths Week Ireland presented MacHale with the inaugural "Raising Public Awareness of Maths" award.Des Machale receives Public Awareness of Maths Award
10th annual Maths Week IrelandIrish mathematician Des MacHale honoured with Maths Week award
by Colm Gorey, Silicon Republic, 16 October 2016.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:MacHale, Des 1946 births 20th-century Irish mathematicians 21st-century Irish mathematicians People from Castlebar Academics of University College Cork Alumni of the University of Galway Alumni of Keele University Anti-smoking activists Living people Irish health activists