Introduction
Desmond "Des" MacHale (born 28 January 1946) is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at University College Cork, Ireland. He is a prolific author and speaker on various subjects, most notably George Boole, lateral thinking puzzles, and humour.
Biography
Des MacHale was born in Castlebar, County Mayo. He earned his BSc and MSc in mathematical science at University College Galway in 1967 and 1968, and completed his PhD at the University of Keele in 1972 under Hans Liebeck. Since then he has been at University College Cork, where his research has focussed on group and ring theory, especially Boolean rings.
In 1985 he published George Boole: His Life and Work, the first book length biography of Boole. 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.
MacHale is a prolific author on various other subjects, including brainteasers and he has written some 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 passions. He has written over a dozen books of lateral thinking problems with author Paul Sloane, as well as several books about the 1952 American film, The Quiet Man. He speaks often–at schools, on radio, and television–on mathematics, humour, and puzzles. He designed the logo of the Irish Mathematical Society.
MacHale is a longtime opponent of smoking, and for decades has played a leading role in the Irish Association of Non-Smokers. He appeared on RTÉ's The Late Late Show as early as the 1980s in an attempt to educate the public about the dangers of smoking.
Selected publications
- 2014 The Life and Work of George Boole : a Prelude to the Digital Age, Cork University Press, ISBN 1782050051
- 2004 Picture The quiet man : an illustrated celebration, Appletree, ISBN 9780862819309
- 1995 Best Irish Humorous Quotations, Mercier, ISBN 1-85635-138-6
- 1993 Comic Sections: The Book of Mathematical Jokes, Humour, Wit and Wisdom, Boole Press, ISBN 1-85748-006-6
- 1989 The World's Best Maggie Thatcher Jokes, Angus & Robertson, ISBN 0-207-16224-7
- 1987 The Book of Irish Bull: Better than All the Udders, Mercier, ISBN 0-85342-822-0
- 1985 George Boole: His Life and Work, Boole Press, ISBN 0-906783-14-3
Awards and honours
On George Boole Day, November 2, 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.