Whitehead, Alfred North (1861-1947), was an English mathematician and philosopher. His writings did much to narrow the gap between philosophy and science. Whitehead’s works reflect his firsthand knowledge of science, his philosophical insight, and his imaginative writing style. He thought scientific knowledge, though precise, is incomplete. It must be supplemented, he said, by philosophical principles and insights of poets.
Whitehead was born on Feb. 15, 1861, in Ramsgate. He taught at Cambridge University and London University until 1924, when he joined the faculty of Harvard University. Whitehead’s writings on mathematics, logic, and the theory of knowledge laid the groundwork for his philosophical classic, Process and Reality (1929). This book explains that process and growth are the fundamental ideas which lead us to understand God, nature, and our own experiences. Whitehead also wrote Principia Mathematica (with Bertrand Russell, 1910-1913) and Science and the Modern World (1925). Whitehead died on Dec. 30, 1947.
