The Most Influential Person In The Development Of The Computer
A Short Biography of Charles BabbageWho was Charles Babbage? Born in 1791 in London, Babbage is considered by many to be the father or the computer. He was born into a wealthy banking family, and therefore he was able to receive a higher level of education than most children of the time. From an early age until adulthood, Babbage loved to learn mathematics; one could argue he was somewhat obsessed with it. This love for math influenced one of his greatest contributions to society, the idealist designs of the computer. How did Babbage’s idea of the computer come about? Noticing the high risk and the number of miscalculations in mathematical problems, Babbage decided and thought up the idea of using a mechanical machine to eliminate the amount of human error in mathematical problems. In 1822, Babbage decided to make his idea into a reality. He submitted an essay entitled“Difference Engine” to the Royal Astronomical Society of England hoping that his explanations of the machine could reward him with enough funding to build his invention. After much review the Royal Astronomical Society accepted Babbage’s idea and gave him a grant worth £1500. Babbage used the money to convert one of his rooms in his house into his computer room. He built every part of his mechanized machine by hand;
however, with the death of his father in 1827 Babbage halted his work and in 1842 the English government ceased Babbage’s work. Eventually Babbage invented the Analytical Engine and the Second Difference Engine; however, neither of them was ever built due to the lack of funding. Eventually his ideas spread across the world and were used to inspire the invention the computer. |
Charles Babbage
Source: Charles Babbage, 1791-1871. 1871. Photograph. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. <http://history-computer.com/Babbage/DifferentialEngine.html>. Charles Babbage's Designs For The Analytical Engine
Source: Photograph. Low-tech Magazine. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. <http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/05/computers-antiq.html>. |
What If Charles Babbage Had Never Been Born?If Charles Babbage had not been born the history of computers would have changed dramatically. Most importantly, the computer might never have been invented or thought up of. It's possible that without the influential and innovational designs of Charles Babbage many of his predecessors, who helped to invent and develop the computers, might never have thought up the idea of a machine that could compute numbers and eventually be able to search the World Wide Web from information on almost any subject. Without the designs of Charles Babbage, Steve Jobs might never have come up with and created a user friendly computer.
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Steve Jobs On The Cover Of Time Magazine
Source: Photograph. Steve Jobs Resigns as Apple CEO. The Gadgets, 25 Aug. 2011. Web. 1 Mar. 2012. <http://thegadgets.net/2011/08/25/breaking-steve-jobs-resigns-as-apple-ceo/>. |