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.

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Instructor: Samiullah Zewak