How it works : Babbage,Charles

BABBAGE, Charles (1791-1871) Charles Babbage was born at Totnes, Devon, the son of a wealthy banker. After a succession of private tutors, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1810. At this time, mathematical instruction consisted mainly of the study of NEWTON'S works, neglecting the more recent investigations of Euler, Lacroix and other European mathematicians. To encourage reform, Babbage and his contemporaries founded an Analytical Society. In 1816, Babbage, John HERSCHEL and others translated Lacroix's treatise on the calculus (an important way of solving many mathematical problems), followed in 1820 by a joint work, Examples to the Differential and Integral Calculus. It was while working on these projects that Babbage wondered if machinery could be used to do some of the calculation. Babbage married in 1814, and thereafter lived in London, but his married life was tragic. He was too engrossed in his work to be a good father, and of his eight children only three survived. Furthermore, his wife died in childbirth in 1827. In 1822, Babbage made a model of a CALCULATING MACHINE that could add six-figure numbers. Encouraged by this success, be designed a far more elaborate machine or 'difference engine' for the calculation of tables, which would automatically set printing type to eliminate the chance of human error, and in 1823 the Government advanced £1500 towards the cost of making the engine. He hoped that such a machine would prevent errors occurring in mathematical and astronomical tables. The work, however, went very slowly. By 1827, when it should have been finished, there was little to show, and rumours that be had put the money to his own use caused a nervous breakdown. More money was advanced, but in 1834 his skilled foreman resigned, and the machine was left unfinished. Above: Babbage's difference engine had reached this stage of completion when he argued  with his chief instrument maker and work was halted. The Stockholm firm of Scheutz took up Babbage's ideas and in 1855 they produced a working machine. Between 1835 and 1848 he worked on a new calculator, the 'analytical engine', paying for it entirely from his own fortune. This, too, remained unfinished at his death. In all, he had spent £20,000, a considerable amount in those days, on these projects. Among his more lasting inventions were the heliograph, a signalling device using mirrors in sunlight, and the OPHTHALMOSCOPE, a device for examining the interior of the eye. He was also an expert in ciphers. In 1832 he published Economy of Aianufa;turers, a widely circulated book dealing with the organization of labour. In 1827 he was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, but did not give a single lecture during his ten-year term. An over sensitive and tactless person, Babbage was unpopular with many of his contemporaries; the Astronomer Royal, Sir George Airy, called his first machine a 'humbug'. Babbage replied by writing a book attacking prominent Fellows of the Royal Society. He was born far ahead of his time, and only in an age of digital COMPUTERS can his understanding of the problems of automatic calculation be appreciated.

Reproduced from HOW IT WORKS p211