Charles Babbage was an English polymath, a mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, who originated the concept of a digital programmable computer a century before electronics made one practical. His difference engine mechanized arithmetic; his unbuilt analytical engine, described from 1837, contained in mechanical form the essential ideas of the modern computer, and Ada Lovelace's published notes on it are the reason the two names open this atlas's story. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
AwardFellow of the Royal Society 2 AwardKnight of the Royal Order of the Welfs 2 AwardFellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2 AwardFellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 2 AwardGold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society 2 FAQs
Why were Charles Babbage's calculating machines never finished in his lifetime?
Mainly funding problems and clashes of personality, including a dispute with the Astronomer Royal, and the Treasury eventually lost confidence in him.
Wikipedia says his machines were among the first mechanical computers and that they were not actually completed largely because of funding problems and clashes of personality, most notably with George Biddell Airy, the Astronomer Royal. For more than ten years Babbage received government funding for his project, but eventually the Treasury lost confidence in him. He had also fallen out with the engineer Joseph Clement, who built the prototype difference engine, over costs around 1831. Babbage then turned to a more complex design, the Analytical Engine, on which his standing as a computer pioneer largely rests.
Connections
In Field
Influenced
The Scheutzian calculation engine was built on Babbage's published difference-engine principle, proving it workable before Babbage completed his own full-scale engine.
Invented
Source Wikipedia: Analytical Engine
Charles Babbage designed the difference engine and announced it to the Royal Astronomical Society on 14 June 1822.
In the Other Atlases
Influenced By
Also in Technology and Engineering Atlas: which influenced this subject.
Nationality
Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Charles Babbage
Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction
A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer.
Opening paragraph
was an English polymath
lead sentence, parenthetical birth date
26 December 1791
Lead section
Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 - 18 October 1871) was an English polymath.
second paragraph, first sentence
Babbage is considered by some to merit the title of "father of the computer"
View the Source 2. Wikidata: Charles Babbage
Wikipedia: Analytical Engine
Wikimedia FoundationInvented: Analytical Engine, Opening sectionQuote, Invented: Analytical Engine, Opening section
The analytical engine was a proposed digital mechanical general-purpose computer designed by the English mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage.
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