20 Facts About John Venn

John Venn, FRS, FSA was an English mathematician, logician and philosopher noted for introducing Venn diagrams, which are used in logic, set theory, probability, statistics, and computer science.

In 1866, Venn published The Logic of Chance, a groundbreaking book which espoused the frequency theory of probability, arguing that probability should be determined by how often something is forecast to occur as opposed to "educated" assumptions.

John Venn was born on 4 August 1834 in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, to Martha Sykes and Rev Henry Venn, who was the rector of the parish of Drypool.

John Venn's mother died when he was three years old.

John Venn was brought up in a very strict atmosphere at home.

John Venn's grandfather was pastor to William Wilberforce of the abolitionist movement, in Clapham.

John Venn began his education in London joining Sir Roger Cholmeley's School, now known as Highgate School, with his brother Henry in September 1846.

John Venn found the Mathematical Tripos unsuited to his mathematical style, complaining that the handful of private tutors he worked with "always had the Tripos prominently in view".

In contrast, John Venn wished to investigate interesting ideas beyond the syllabus.

John Venn experienced, in his words, a "reaction and disgust" to the Tripos which led him to sell his books on mathematics and state that he would never return to the subject.

John Venn reacquainted himself with logic and became a leading scholar in the field through his textbooks The Logic of Chance, Symbolic Logic and The Principles of Empirical or Inductive Logic.

John Venn's academic writing was influenced by his teaching: he saw Venn diagrams, which he called "Eulerian Circles" and introduced in 1880, as a pedagogical tool.

John Venn was known for teaching students across multiple Cambridge colleges, which was rare at the time.

The bowling machine that John Venn built actually bowled out the top ranked player of the team four times consecutively.

In 1883, John Venn was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1884, he was awarded a Sc.

Newspaper archives show that John Venn was a very active member of local civic society in Cambridge, and a committee member of the Cambridge Charitable Organisations Society, later elected vice-chairman in December 1884.

John Venn is listed as a vice president of the Cambridge Provident Medical Institution.

John Venn co-signed with his wife Susanna, a letter to the Cambridge Independent Press published 16 October 1908, encouraging women to put themselves forward as candidates for the up-and-coming Cambridge town council elections.

The newspaper archives reveal that John Venn was a passionate gardener, regularly taking part in local competitions organised by groups such as the Cambridgeshire Horticultural Society, winning prizes for his roses in July 1885 and for his white carrots later that September.

John Venn compiled Alumni Cantabrigienses, a biographical register of former members of the University of Cambridge.