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Charles Babbage

Born in the city of London, England in 1791, Charles Babbage was an analytical philosopher, inventor and mathematician who is referred to by some as the father of modern computing, and by others as the grandfather of modern computing, given his contributions to the field well before its development into the type of computer science and engineering that it is today. He is widely credited as being the first man to consider the concept of a programmable computer and is a highly respected and recognized name in the annals of computer history thanks to his life work in the area of mechanical calculating machines, more specifically his Difference Engine No. 1 (still considered to be one of the best examples of precision engineering in the day and the pioneer in successful automatic calculation) and his Analytical Engine (a general symbol manipulator he believed would be better than the Difference Engine in that it could handle all sorts of calculations, not limited only to a single mathematical task).

Babbage work was funded by English government grants. When the funding stopped in 1842, the unfinished prototype of the Difference Engine was placed in the Science Museum. Interestingly, in 1985 the Museum decided to build the Engine No. 2 based entirely on Babbage’s original design specifications. When they finished the project six years later they found that it worked completely.

Web Resources On Charles Babbage

Mathematicians: Charles Babbage
Wikipedia: Charles Babbage

Book Resources On Charles Babbage

Charles Babbage: Pioneer of the Computer by Anthony Hyman
The Difference Engine: Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer by Doron Swade

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