2014 paperback edition. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, social critic and political activist. Russell led the British "revolt against idealism" in the early 20th century, is one of the founders of analytic philosophy, and is widely regarded as one of the 20th century's premier logicians. His work has had a considerable influence on logic, mathematics, set theory, linguistics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science, philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics. In 1950 Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."