Nobel Prize Recipient. Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher, was awarded the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature. Besides being a philosopher, he was a logician, essayist and social critic best known for his work in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy. He is considered to be one of the founders of modern analytic philosophy, being a staunch advocate of anti-imperialism and of anti-war activities. According to the Nobel Prize Committee, he received this coveted award "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought." In 1950 he received only one nomination for the Nobel candidacy in the category of Literature, yet he received 46 nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize candidacy in 1963, yet that award was given to The International Committee of the Red Cross and The Red Cross Association in recognition of 100 years of world-wide service to mankind. Born into a family of British nobility, his mother, father, and a surviving twin sister died within eighteen months. An epidemic of diphtheria took his mother and sister, and although his father survived diphtheria, he died within eighteen months of bronchitis with respiratory failure. According to his father's will, his father did not want his remaining children to be raised as Christians. Becoming an orphan at age three, he and his seven-year-older brother, John Frank, were made a ward of the Court to undo this will, with his Christian grandmother left to care for the two boys. His grandfather, Lord John Russell had been the Prime Minister from 1846 to 1852 and again from 1865 to 1866, and upon his grandfather's death, his older brother became the 2nd Earl Russell. For his early years of education, he had a governess and tutors, learning to speak French and German. At the age of eighteen, he entered Trinity College at Cambridge, excelling in his studies. By1894 he had become an attaché at the British embassy in Paris, was elected a fellow of Trinity College in 1895, and published his first book in 1896, "German Social Democracy." He became a prolific author on a host of many subjects. In 1900 he attended the Mathematical Congress at Paris becoming inspired with Italian mathematician Peano, and from this he authored his first important book, "The Principles of Mathematics" in 1903. During World War I, he became critical of Great Britain going to war with Germany and the draft of young men for the army. He became active in the No Conscription Fellowship, being fined as the author of a booklet criticizing the two-year jail sentences given to conscientious objectors. At his point, he lost his position as lecturer at Trinity College. Although he was offered a position at Harvard University in the United States, he was denied a passport to travel. His planned Harvard lectures were later published in the United States in 1918 as "Political Ideals." In 1918 he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for a pacifistic article, "Tribunal," and while confined, he wrote the 1919 "Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy ." With subscriptions sold, his collection of lectures, "Analysis of Mind" was published in 1921. In 1924, he exposed his controversial views on philosophy in "Logical Atomism." During the 1930s, he supported India's self-rule and leaving the United Kingdom. For this support, his image was on an Indian postage stamp in 1974. Upon his brother Frank's death in 1931, he became the 3rd Earl Russell. He traveled to Germany, Russia, China, and other places lecturing at universities. In 1938 he traveled to the United States for a lecture tour, and although presented numerous university lectures, he was met with cancellations, even after a court case, at the City College of New York and the Barnes Foundation as there was conflict with "his views on morality." In October of 1948, he was one of the 24 surviving passengers out of 43 in an airplane crashed on the way to Norway for lectures. Throughout his life, he was a proclaimed atheist, putting significant effort into opposing religious ideas and institutions of all kinds. He covered his thoughts on this subject in his books "Is There a God?" in 1952; the 3-volume book, "The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell" in 1967, 1968, and 1969; along with a host of published magazine articles on the subject. In 1961 he was jailed for one month for protesting nuclear weapons. Beginning in 1963, his interests included lobbying on behalf of political prisoners under the auspices of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation. For this, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but did not receive the award. He was outspoken about the United States being in the Vietnam War, publishing books on the subject. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1908, and re-elected a fellow of Trinity College in 1944 and resigned in 1949. Besides, the Nobel Prize, he was awarded the Sylvester medal of the Royal Society in 1934 and the de Morgan medal of the London Mathematical Society in 1950. He was married four times: In 1894 Alys Pearsall Smith, which he divorced; in 1921 Dora Black, which he had three children and divorced; in 1936 Patricia Helen Spence, his children governess, which he had a son and divorced, and in 1952 married Edith Finch. He was considered a liberal "free thinker," not only in his political viewpoints but in his personal life. He died of influenza. His remains were cremated with his ashes scattered over the Welsh mountains later that year. The only service was a minute of silence. His last public statement was made the day after his death, concerning "Israel's aggression in the Middle East." Besides a large plaque in Trinity College chapel, he has a bust is on display in the Red Square in London and one of his residences has an English Heritage Blue Plaque. John Conrad Russell, 4th Earl Russell was his oldest son and died in 1987. His daughter Lady Katharine Jane Tait founded the Bertrand Russell Society in 1974, but in 2021, the website is closed. Lady Harriet Russell is his youngest daughter. His younger son Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell, 5th Earl Russell, became a liberal politician, died in 2004. At this point, the title went to Conrad Russell's oldest son until his 2014 death and the youngest son become the 7th Earl Russell.