Charles Babbage - The Father of the Computer who hated Street Music.
On October 18 1871 Charles Babbage mathematician inventor and early computer scientist passed away. We think, everybody should know about Charles Babbage and his seminal work on the first mechanical universal computer the Analytical Engine. Although the Analytical Engine never was build during his lifetime, due to the lack of according fine mechanics in the 19th century Babbage sketched out everything necessary to construct and to program a universal computer. Born in Teignmouth Devonshire on December 26 1791 as son of Benjamin Babbage, a fairly wealthy London banker, Charles Babbage suffered from many childhood illnesses, which forced his family to send him to a clergy operated school for special care. During his younger years, he received private tutoring from elite school teachers due to the wealth of his father. When he went to Trinity College, Cambridge in October 1810 he was turned off by the sort of math that was taught, so together with his friend John Herschel the later famous astronomer he decided to form his own math group known as the Analytical Society who would apply scientific logic and thought to test mathematical ideas of the time. When, in 1812 Babbage transferred to Peterhouse, Cambridge he was the best mathematician. In the times of Babbage there was a really high error rate in the calculation of math tables, when Babbage planned to find a new method that could be use to make it mechanically, removing the human error factor. This idea started to tickle his brain very early, in 1812 Three different elements influenced him in this decision: he disliked untidiness and unprecision; he was very able with logarithmical tables; he was inspired from an existing work on calculating machines produced by Schickard Pascal and Leibniz. He discussed the main principles of a calculating engine in a letter he wrote to Sir Humphrey Davy in the early 1822. By that time Babbage began developing his Difference Engine a mechanical device that could calculate and tabulate polynomial functions, but he was unable to complete it because of a lack of funding. The name 'derives from the method of divided differences a way to interpolate or tabulate functions by using a small set of polynomial coefficients. Both logarithmic and trigonometric functions can be approximated by polynomials so a difference engine can compute many useful sets of numbers for navigators and scientists. In the 1830s Babbage began developing his Analytical Engine which was designed to carry calculations guided by a programming logic but this device was never built. Babbage's book Economy of Machines and Manufactures (initiated the field of study known today as operational research Unfortunately, little remains of Babbage's prototype computing machines Critical tolerances required by his machines exceeded the level of technology available at the time. And, though Babbage’s work was formally recognized by respected scientific institutions, the British government suspended funding for his Difference Engine in 1832 One year later Ada Augusta King, Countess of Lovelace the only legitimate child of the famous poet Lord Byron met Babbage and was fascinated with both him and his computers. She became a competent student of mathematics which was most unusual for a woman at the time. It is often suggested that Ada was the world's first programmer. Unfortunately, Babbage was never able to complete his Analytical Engine and the concept was shelved and forgotten until 1937 when many of his unpublished notebooks were discovered. Finally, in 1991 British scientists got around to constructing a machine called Difference Engine No. 2 (accurate to 31 digits) built according to Babbage's detailed specifications. According to the account of Lady Lovelace Babbage hated music. He tolerated its more exquisite forms, but abhorred it as practiced on the street. "Those whose minds are entirely unoccupied", he wrote with some seriousness in 1864 "receive [with satisfaction, as filling up the vacuum of time". He calculated that 25% of his working power had been destroyed by street nuisances, many of them intentional. Letters to the Times and the eventual enforcement of "Babbage's Act", which would squelch street nuisances, made him the target of ridicule. Babbage also worked in the fields of philosophy and code-breaking, as well as campaigning for reform in British science. He died at his home in London on 18 October 1871 Learn more about Charles Babbage and his work in the lecture of Prof. Doron Swade from Neukom Institute at Dartmouth College about 'Constructing Charles Babagge's Analytical Engine'.