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Charles Babbage
1791–1871 · Mathematician & Inventor
A mathematician and inventor who designed pioneering automatic calculating machines and a general-purpose programmable engine anticipating modern computers.
“On two occasions I have been asked, "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.”
Why is this scientist famous?
Designing the Difference Engine, an automatic mechanical calculator, and the Analytical Engine, an early design for a general-purpose programmable computer.
Babbage designed the Analytical Engine, a mechanical programmable computing machine with separate storage and processing and instructions supplied using punched cards. Although it was never completed in his lifetime, its design contained many important features that later became familiar in general-purpose computers.
Charles's story
Early Life
Born in London in 1791, Babbage showed an early talent for mathematics. He attended Cambridge University, where he helped found the Analytical Society to modernize British mathematics, which had fallen behind continental Europe.
The Difference Engine
While checking astronomical tables by hand, Babbage was appalled by the number of errors. He conceived the Difference Engine — a machine designed to calculate and print mathematical tables automatically, reducing the risk of human calculation and transcription errors. The British government funded the project, but it grew increasingly complex and was never completed.
The Analytical Engine
Babbage’s boldest idea was the Analytical Engine, conceived in the 1830s as a general-purpose programmable computing machine. It had a separate processing unit called the ‘mill’, memory called the ‘store’, and could be programmed using punched cards. Its planned operations included looping and conditional branching, features recognisable in later computers.
The Analytical Engine was never completed in Babbage’s lifetime. Its enormous complexity, continuing design changes, lack of funding and disputes surrounding his earlier Difference Engine project all contributed to this. Babbage nevertheless continued refining the design for many years.
Legacy
Babbage died in 1871 with his major engines unfinished. His detailed plans nevertheless remained an important part of the history of computing. In 1991, the Science Museum in London completed the main calculating section of Difference Engine No. 2 using Babbage’s original designs, demonstrating that the design was mechanically workable. Its printing mechanism was completed in 2002. The Analytical Engine itself has never been fully constructed, but its design is recognised as a major step toward general-purpose programmable computing.
What did they discover?
Difference Engine
Designed an automatic mechanical calculator for producing mathematical tables using the method of finite differences, with the aim of reducing errors in hand-calculated tables.
Analytical Engine
Designed an early general-purpose programmable computing machine with separate storage and processing, punched-card input, and planned support for operations including loops and conditional branching.
Amazing facts
He was known as the "irascible genius" for his combative personality and feuds with street musicians.
He designed a cow-catcher for the front of railway locomotives as one of many inventions and engineering ideas he explored.
He hated street musicians and once complained they cost him a quarter of his working time.
Ada Lovelace was his friend and collaborator; her 1843 Notes included a detailed Bernoulli-number algorithm, one of the earliest published descriptions of a program for such a machine.
The Science Museum completed the main calculating section of Difference Engine No. 2 in 1991 using Babbage’s original plans; the printing mechanism was added in 2002.
He held the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge — the same chair later held by Stephen Hawking.
Timeline
Born in London, England on December 26
Entered Trinity College, Cambridge
Co-founded the Analytical Society to reform British mathematics
Proposed the Difference Engine to the British government
A working portion of Difference Engine No. 1 was assembled and demonstrated
Began developing the Analytical Engine, a general-purpose programmable computing machine
Ada Lovelace published her Notes on the Analytical Engine, including a detailed Bernoulli-number algorithm
Died in London on October 18, age 79
Awards & honours
Related Super Scientists
Ada Lovelace
1815–1852 · Mathematician
Publishing influential 1843 Notes on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, including a detailed algorithm for calculating Bernoulli numbers and a visionary description of uses beyond arithmetic.
Alan Turing
1912–1954 · Mathematician & Computer Scientist
Making foundational contributions to theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence, and playing a major role in Allied codebreaking during the Second World War.
Grace Hopper
1906–1992 · Computer Scientist & Naval Admiral
Developing one of the earliest compilers and pioneering word-based programming languages that helped make computers easier to program.
