John Venn (1834-1923) accomplished much during his life. He began as an Anglican priest, although his study of logic, mathematics, and philosophy eventually led him to shed the clerical collar. He taught at Cambridge and eventually became president of one of its constituent colleges. Venn also tinkered with machines and invented a cricket ball bowling machine that was better than top human bowlers.
But Venn is most famous for one of the diagrams that he developed to show partially overlapping sets of values. That design is the basis for a memorial window in his honor at Gonville and Caius College.
His birthplace in Hull is also marked with an Alternative Heritage marker inspired by Venn's diagram.
-via Richard Coles | Photos: Schutz and Dithy, respectively
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