The analytical engine was a proposed digital mechanical general purpose computer designed by the English mathematician Charles Babbage and first described in 1837. It incorporated an arithmetic logic unit, control flow with conditional branching and loops, and integrated memory, making it the first design for a general purpose computer that could be described in modern terms as Turing complete. Babbage was never able to complete construction of any of his machines, so the first general purpose computer existed for a century only on paper, together with Ada Lovelace's published notes on programming it.
Facts
YearThe year the design was first described. SignificanceThe first design for a general purpose computer, Turing complete in modern terms, though never built. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Ada Lovelace, Pioneers Her 1843 published notes on the engine include what is widely described as the first computer program; the correspondence between Babbage and Lovelace describing the engine is the first documented computer architecture.
In Field
Invented By
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Analytical Engine
Wikimedia FoundationOpening sectionQuote, Opening section
The analytical engine was a proposed digital mechanical general-purpose computer designed by the English mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage. It was first described in 1837...
Wikipedia: Computer Architecture
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Ada Lovelace, History sectionQuote, Associated With: Ada Lovelace, History section
The first documented computer architecture was in the correspondence between Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace, describing the analytical engine.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.