Babbage, Charles

Questions on this topic? Just ask!

British Mathematician and Inventor 1791–1871

Charles Babbage was born in England in 1791. He lived during the Industrial Revolution, and his scientific, technological, and political endeavors contributed significantly to its effects.

Babbage was the son of a wealthy banker and attended Cambridge University. A brilliant man, he was elected to membership in the Royal Society before receiving his master's degree in 1817. He was appointed to the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge in 1828, a position also held by such great scientists as Sir Isaac Newton and today's Stephen Hawking.

As an authentic Newtonian, Babbage advocated the reduction of all things to numerical terms and believed that they could then be understood and controlled. He was particularly attracted to the use of statistics.

Babbage is often regarded as the "father of computing." In 1823, with financial support from the British government, he began work on what he called the Difference Engine, a steam-powered machine that would calculate mathematical tables correct to twenty decimal places. He built prototypes that produced tables of logarithms correct to eight decimal places but was never successful in constructing a full-size version.

Instead, in 1833, Babbage became interested in designing and building an Analytical Engine. This device was to be a mechanical apparatus that could perform any mathematical calculation. It would be controlled by a "program" of instructions that the machine would read from punched paper cards. Although his Analytical Engine has never been constructed, Babbage's basic design was the foundation of modern digital computers.

Babbage was active in a variety of areas. Fascinated with rail travel, he performed research on railroad safety and efficiency, invented the cowcatcher, and promoted a standard gauge for train tracks. He established the modern postal system in Britain by developing uniform postal rates. His production of the first dependable actuarial tables of statistical life expectancies helped found the modern insurance industry.

Babbage invented, among many other devices, the dynamometer, better lights for lighthouses, and a speedometer. His ideas contributed to the growth of the machine tool industry. He also developed mathematical approaches to deciphering codes.

Concerned about the level of interest in science, Babbage published Reflections on the Decline of Science in England in 1830. He also helped create the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the Analytical Society, the Statistical Society, and the Royal Astronomical Society.

Babbage's book On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures (1832) established the scientific study of manufacturing, known as operations research. It made an important contribution to political and social economic theory by regarding manufacturing as the primary component of economics. Quoted by Karl Marx in Das Kapital, its ideas were important in Marxist economic theory. His other writings included Ninth Bridgewater Treatise (1837), in which he attempted to harmonize his scientific and religious beliefs.

Although he was, for many years, a popular member of London society, he became ill-natured and unpopular in his old age. The honorary title of baron was offered to him, but he insisted instead on a life peerage— having all the privileges of a hereditary baron, including a seat in the House of Lords. It was never granted. He died in London in 1871.

Mathematical Devices, Mechanical.

Collier, Bruce, and James MacLachlan. Charles Babbage and the Engines of Perfection. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2000.

Lindgren, Michael. Glory and Failure: The Difference Engines of Johann Müller, Charles Babbage, and Georg and Edvard Scheutz, trans. Craig G. McKay. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990.

This is the complete article, containing 596 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).