Charles Babbage
(1791-1871)
Biography and inventions of Charles Babbage
In 1991, a group of British scientists set out
on an unusual quest. They wanted to actually
construct a difference Engine that was
proposed by the 19th century British
mathematician, inventor, philosopher Charles
Babbage. Though Babbage was not himself
able to make the machine, which could
perform mathematical calculation (like our
modern computers), he left detailed
specifications for it. Many scientists worked
on the plans and with financial help from
some industrialists, the British Museum
finally got a Difference Engine. The huge
machine, made entirely out of the
specifications given by Babbage, works
perfectly and calculates to a precision of 31
digits! Charles Babbage was born to a wealthy
banker in 1792. AS a child, he was of a weak
constitution and hence was taught by private
tutors or went to exclusive schools. He
developed an immense fondness for
mathematics and joined Trinity College at
Cambridge where his classmates were the
famous astronomer Herschel and the
mathematician Peacock. It was in Trinity that
he came up with the idea of calculating
machines. In those days, all calculations had
to be tediously done with the help of
logarithms. The accuracy of the calculations
was dependent upon how accurately the
logarithms had been calculated by others. In
his memoirs, Babbage writes about a long day
in the library when he fell asleep. He was
woken by a friend who jokingly asked him
about his dream. Babbage replied that he had dreamt of a machine that could calculate
logarithms to a very high accuracy!
Around 1818, Babbage became interested in
astronomical calculations and here again he
started working on his idea of a calculating
machine. He actually constructed a small
version of such a machine, called the
difference Engine in 1822. His invention was
duly recognized and he got a grant to
construct a more powerful version of the
machine. Unfortunately, this proved to be very
difficult. The accuracy demanded in
constructing such a machine was such that the
expenses got out of hand and soon the project
was in trouble. 1827 proved to be an actual
tragic year for Babbage. His father, his wife
and two of his children all died in this year.
However, he was appointed the Lucasian
Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge in
1828, and was there for 12 years. In 1834,work stopped on his difference Engine. The
government had granted him 17,000 pounds
for the project and he had spent another 6000
of his own money. The government could not
decide whether to support his work further.
Convincing the government to continue with
two tons of brass, had-fitted steel and pewter
clockwork was not easy. Babbage was
disappointed but he immediately started
thinking about his major work, the Analytical
Engine. This was the precursor to the modern-
day computer. It was capable of carrying out
any mathematical operation and had five
logical components: the store (like the
memory in computers), the mill (like the CPU
of computers), the control (which functioned
like the software) and input and output.
Babbage had had such a bad experience with
the government with his difference Engine
that he decided against approaching the government for any more money.
Unfortunately, Babbage never completed the
Analytical Engine though he left detailed
drawing of the complete engine. Babbage was
an amazingly versatile person. He was in love
with the railways, which had just been
introduced. He invented the cowcatcher for
the railway engine and also was responsible
for introducing the standard broad gauge in
the railway tracks. He was a profound thinker
and was obsessed with numbers. He collected
strange numbers and statistics. For instance, in
1857, he published a table of the causes of
breaking of glass windows in which he
detailed more than 400 breakages, along with
the reasons for the breaking (including
drunken men!). Babbage was a visionary
whose ideas about computing machines are
essentially still used in today's electronic
computers. Only, he had thought of them a 100 years before the advent of computers!
Since computers have changed the way we do
mathematics and computation, it is only fair
that this man, who died virtually unknown in
1871, be called the Father of computing.
Facts at a Glance:
. Charles Babbage is usually credited with
inventing mechanical calculating machines
that worked on principles like our modern-day
computers. Babbage's main motivation was to
make a machine that could give him very
accurate astronomical tables. He started
building a device called the Difference
Engine. He worked all his life to perfect the
design of this machine but unfortunately could
never make it.
. Babbage invented several useful things,
some of which are still being used by us For
instance, the cowcatcher we see in front of railway engines was his invention, as was the
standard railway gauge.
. He was also responsible for introducing
uniform postal rates for letters and packages.
Before his time, the amount one had to pay for
a letter depended on the distance to the
addressee.
. Babbage designed a machine called the
Analytical Engine, which worked on the same
principles as our modern digital computer. It
could carry out a series of calculations with
the help of purchased cards. The punched
cards carried the "program" or software in
today's computer language. Unfortunately,
Babbage could never make the Analytical
Engine because of lack of funds.
Wait for another chapters…
Instructor: Samiullah Zewak