“In the visible world, the Milky Way is a tiny fragment; within this fragment, the solar system is an infinitesimal speck, and of this speck our planet is a microscopic dot. On this dot, tiny lumps of impure carbon and water, of complicated structure, with somewhat unusual physical and chemical properties, crawl about for a few years, until they are dissolved again into the elements of which they are compounded.”

Welsh mathematician and philosopher

Bertrand Russell was a Welsh mathematician and philosopher, and a founder of analytic philosophy. He became one of the leading philosophers of the 20th century, known for work in logic, set theory, and the philosophy of language. He also helped bring philosophy to a wider public through his books and commentary. Outside academic philosophy, he was widely known for his outspoken atheism, pacifism, and opposition to nuclear weapons, and he often wrote on social and political questions.