India on Bertrand Russell

October 16, 1972

India on Bertrand Russell

A commemorative postage stamp on the Birth Centenary of Bertrand Russell, 3^rd Earl Russell, a British philosopher, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic, political activist and recipient of Nobel Prize in Literature (1950) [a part of ‘Centenary Series‘] :

Issued by India

Issued on Oct 16, 1972

Issued for : From this year, the P & T Department has introduced a new ‘Centenary Series‘ of postage stamps to commemorate the centenaries of personalities which fall during the year. The P & T Department feels honoured to bring out in this series the special postage stamps this year for the following personalities on the October 16, 1972.

1. Vemana : 3^rd Centenary
2. Bertrand Russell : Birth Centenary
3. T. Prakasam : Birth Centenary
4. Bhai Vir Singh : Birth Centenary

Design : The photograph of Bertrand Russell has been reproduced in the stamp with the courtesy of M/s Keystone Press Agency Ltd., 4 Red Lion Court, London EC-4.

Type : Stamp, Postal Used

Colour : Blue Black

Denomination : Rs. 1.45

Overall size : 3.34 x 2.88 cms.

Printing size : 2.987 x 2.524 cms.

Perforation : 13½ x 14

Watermark : Printed on unwatermarked Adhesive Stamp paper

Number Printed : Three million

Number per issue sheet : 42

Printing Process : Photogravure

Designed and printed at : India Security Press, Nasik Road

Name : Bertrand Arthur William Russell

Born on May 18, 1872 at Trellech, Monmouthshire, United Kingdom

Died on Feb 2, 1970 at Penrhyndeudraeth, Caernarfonshire, Wales, United Kingdom

About :

As a dreamer of world peace, Bertrand Russell could say “I see in my mind’s eye a great wave of happiness sweeping over the human race, as the old night of hate and fear become dispersed. I see a new Golden Age the like of which has never been seen since history began. All this is possible. It needs only that man should choose to live rather than to die.“
The philosopher and mathematician, Bertrand Russell, was born on May 18, 1872. He studied Mathematics and Moral Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge and was appointed as Lecturer in the same College. In 1908 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was a pacifist and during the First World War he suffered for his views.
As a Member of the Labour Party, Bertrand Russell visited Russia and wrote a book on his impressions of the U.S.S.R. – “The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism“. He then visited China, studied Chinese life and thought. On his return he wrote a book “The Problem of China“.
Bertrand Russell was author of more than fifty books, many of them on mathematics, philosophy and other academic subjects, but many also deal with sociological problems.
He was active in many directions. A stimulating speaker and lecturer, he frequently took part in the BBC‘s “Brains Trust” programmes and was invited by it to deliver the inaugural series of Reith Lectures in 1947. Temperamentally sympathetic to the Indian struggle for liberty, Russell became Chairman of the Indian League formed in Britain to help the Indians and their claim for self-government.
During his later years, Russell was a moving spirit in the formation of various bodies working for world peace. He was a founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and founded in 1963 the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and the Atlantic Peace Foundation with the object of developing international resistance to the threat of nuclear war.
Bertrand Russell was married four times and had three children. He lived latterly at Plas Penrhyn in North Wales, where he died on February 2, 1970 in his 98^th year.