What Austrian philosopher, born on this day in 1889, published under the title, Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung– a publication that came to the attention of the famous Vienna Circle of philosophers. The following year, it was published with the title Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. This eventually brought him celebrity and led to his appointment as lecturer and fellow of Trinity College at Cambridge, where he founded the field of philosophy subsequently known as logical atomism.”
In 1947, he resigned from his professorship at Cambridge so that he could devote his full time to writing. He travelled first to Ireland, then to America and back to London where he was diagnosed in 1950 with inoperable prostate cancer. Two days after his 62nd birthday, he lay in bed at his doctor’s home in a semi-conscious state and knowing death was imminent, uttered, “Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life.” He passed away a few hours later.
