Babbage, Charles

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Charles Babbage Summary

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Babbage, Charles

British Inventor and Mathematician
1791–1871

A mathematician, philosopher, and inventor, Charles Babbage is best remembered for his concept of the Analytical Engine—a calculating machine that was not actually built during his lifetime.

Being born into a wealthy family on December 26, 1791 allowed Babbage to pursue his interests free from financial worries through most of his life. The oldest child of a successful Devonshire banker, Babbage spent the greater part of his early childhood relieved of study due to poor health. Deprived of formal study, the young Babbage used experiments to find answers to his questions. For example, he would take toys apart to see what was inside. On another occasion, he tried, unsuccessfully, to summon the devil to confirm the creature's existence. His failure to do so led him to reason that devils and ghosts were not real.

Babbage's formal education began at a boarding school in London, England. Algebra interested him to such an extent that he and another studentwould wake at 3 A.M. to study for a few hours. In 1814 Babbage entered Cambridge University to study mathematics. As a result of his late-night algebra studies and knowledge of European mathematical advances, he knew more than his tutors. Babbage and his equally mathematically talented friends, John Herschel and George Peacock, formed the Analytical Society to promote European mathematics as a more advanced subject than the mathematics of English physicist Isaac Newton (1642–1727). On the lighter side, he joined friends to form the Ghost Club.

Charles Babbage.

Upon completing a master of arts, Babbage continued to work for mathematical reform through the translation of a paper by Sylvestre François Lacroix. This and further works on calculus were recognized by Cambridge University in 1828 when Babbage was elected as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. During his ten years as professor, Babbage gave no lectures; however he participated in the examination of students for the Smith prizes given for excellence in mathematics.

A major outcome of his mathematical studies was the idea for a calculating machine—the Difference Engine—which would calculate and print numbers in a sequence based on the principle of differences. The sequences of the calculations can be described by a theorem or as a polynomial and the succeeding values are calculated by addition and subtraction rather than by multiplication. The Difference Engine produced tables of logarithmic and trigonometric functions to six decimal places. This machine would have a mechanical memory and the capability of producing printed tables. To get funding to build a large Difference Machine, Babbage used a small working model to demonstrate the machine's potential to the British government. The machine was designed to a second-order difference and six decimal places. All parts of the machine were hand tooled or cast. Babbage built a foundry and forge on his land to facilitate and oversee the creation of the components.

In 1824 Babbage was awarded a grant to build his machine. As work progressed on the machine, he was making changes on the design and eventually scrapped the original model for a more complex one, the Analytical Engine. He again petitioned the government for more funding but was denied. Despite the lack of funding, he continued to design and construct parts for the Analytical Engine using his own funds.

The Analytical Engine design incorporated the following functions. Variables and detailed instructions would be read into the machine from punched cards. These cards were based upon the card coding method used in Jacquard weaving. The variables would be placed in a 'store,' memory, as would intermediate calculations. The 'mill,' processor, would carry out the instructions thereby performing the calculations. Based on calculation results, the engine could determine which instruction should be used next. Babbage had developed a decision function. The results would be printed out. This design has all the characteristics of a computer.

Despite his accomplishments, Babbage could not get financial support for the Analytical Engine and did not have the resources to complete a working model. He did leave detailed drawings for the internal mechanism and notes for the design and construction.

In the early 1840s, Babbage came in contact with Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, a female contemporary mathematician and theoretician. Lovelace had translated a summary of Babbage's achievements from an original Italian account. When she showed Babbage her translation, he suggested that she add her own notes, which turned out to be three times the length of the original article. Letters between Babbage and Lovelace raced back and forth. When Lovelace eventually published the article in 1843, it included her predictions that Babbage's machine might be used to compose complex music and to produce graphics, and it might be used for both practical and scientific use. She was correct. It was Lovelace who also suggested to Babbage the idea of writing a plan on how his engine might calculate Bernoulli numbers. This plan is now regarded as the first "computer language."

When not completely involved with the calculating engines, Babbage turned his attention to other pursuits. He was avidly interested in all kinds of statistics, from the heartbeat of a pig, to the quantity of wood that a man could saw in a specific amount of time. Babbage would put himself into danger to learn more. Once he spent time in a large drying machine to test the human body's reaction to heat. On another occasion, he spent five to six minutes inside a 129ºC (265ºF) oven, noting his pulse and the quantity of his perspiration. Another venture was to explore the inside of an active volcano. Babbage descended into Italy's Mount Vesuvius to observe the occurrence of mini eruptions. Having determined that the time between eruptions was about ten minutes, Babbage proceeded to descend further and closer to the eruption site to see liquid lava and note its movement. He remained for six minutes allowing four minutes to retreat from his position before the next eruption.

In 1837 Babbage conducted experiments which determined that the Brunel wide gauge track (railway) was safer and more efficient than narrower gauge tracks. Plus, his calculations of mail delivery showed that the most costly aspect of the mailing process was the distance traveled, and not the time or labor involved. This analysis resulted in the introduction of uniform postal rates.

Babbage's book, Economics of Manufactures and Machinery, set out the mathematics for the manufacturing processes. The book became a basis for operations research. Babbage published numerous papers covering a wide range of topics, from science to religion. He founded the British Association's Statistical Society and the British Association for the Advancement of Science; was elected a fellow of the Royal Society; and was a member of the Astronomical Society. Babbage's The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise details his ideas that science could explain religion. Babbage died in London on October 18, 1871.

Bertha Kugelman Morimoto