Charles Babbage
1791-1871
English Mathematician and Inventor
The development of the modern computer owes a debt to Englishman Charles Babbage, who developed plans for an analytical engine (the forerunner of today's digital computer) as early as the mid-1830s.
Born the day after Christmas in 1791 in London, England, Babbage entered the University of Cambridge around 1809. In 1812, he helped to organize Analytic Society as a means of introducing new theories emerging from other European countries into the British field of mathematics. He became well known for his creative organizational ideas and, in 1816, was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London. He also founded Royal Astronomical (1820) and Statistical (1834) societies.
Around the time he was organizing the Analytic Society, Babbage came up with a concept far ahead of his time: a machine that could calculate various mathematical functions with an accuracy of upto eight decimals. Later, in 1823, he was able to interest the British government in supporting his design of a machine accurate to 20 decimals. Naturally, this new machine was dependent on an entirely new set of mechanical engineering functions, which Babbage had to develop on his own.
At this time, he was also actively engaged in his scholastic career and served as Lucasian professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge (1823-1839).
Charles Babbage. (The Library of Congress. Reproduced by permission.)As he began serious work on his so-called analytical engine, Babbage began to turn his ideas into reality. The possibilities he saw were enormous: using punched cards as the basis for commands to the machine to perform any arithmetical operation: addition, subtraction, division, percentage, etc., plus a storage or memory capability where numbers, sequences, and other data could be stored and retrieved.
As we consider the remarkable work of Babbage, it becomes more and more amazing. Today, the word computer is not limited to a purely electronic device, but encompasses three generic types: analog, digital and hybrid. They can also differ widely in size—some as small as a wristwatch, while others take up large rooms.
However, in the mid-1800s, the idea of a machine replacing human calculators must have seemed as unreal as our present, taken-for-granted keyboards and monitors. Unfortunately, Babbage was never able to complete his analytical engine, and the concept was shelved and forgotten until 1937 when many of his unpublished notebooks were discovered. Finally, in 1991, British scientists got around to constructing a machine called Difference Engine No. 2 (accurate to 31 digits). It was built to Babbage's specifications.
In today's world, all industrialized nations depend heavily on computers to perform tasksthat formerly required thousands of man-hours with a large margin of error. The intricate programs which control all forms of manufacturing, travel and shipping records, inventories, bank records, scientific research, and so on, are seldom used or understood by most of us. Instead, even people with the least possible knowledge of technical processing use computers in their homes, offices, schoolrooms, and on their laps in the most improbable places.
As for Babbage, he didn't stop with his ideas for mechanical calculators. He gave his country a technical jump on the rest of the world by assisting in the development of the modern postal system (still in use), and used his knowledge of sequential numbering to develop actuarial tables. In his spare time, he invented a type of speedometer and the cowcatcher used on locomotives well into the twentieth century. Babbage died in London on October 18, 1871.
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