I wish to God these calculations had been executed by steam.
—Charles Babbage
In 1832, a group of machinists started work on a mysterious invention at a workshop in England. Expected to weigh fifteen tons, the device would be five times larger than early railroad locomotives. Blueprints for the steam-powered machine, which had the financial backing of the British government, called for 25,000 separate parts—a staggeringly complex array of gears and rods that seemed to serve no purpose.
Designed by the mathematician Charles Babbage (1791–1871), the device taking shape at the factory was the world’s first mechanical calculator. A full century before the invention of computers, Babbage had designed a machine that he was convinced could execute complex mathematical functions with unerring speed and accuracy. Although its cost was enormous, Babbage predicted that his Difference Engine No. 1 would revolutionize science, business, and engineering.
Babbage was born in London and graduated from Cambridge in 1814. A prolific writer, he was elevated in 1828 to his alma mater’s prestigious Lucasian professorship, the chair once held by Isaac Newton (1643–1727).
Like many other mathematicians in Victorian-era England, Babbage was troubled by the unreliable mathematical tables that architects, engineers, and navigators depended on. Compiled by hand and subject to human error, the tables were often full of mistakes. Beginning in the 1820s, Babbage began crafting blueprints for his Difference Engine. He also designed a second, more compact version, the Difference Engine No. 2 (it weighed only 2.6 tons), and an Analytical Engine, a programmable computer that he was still tinkering with at the time of his death.
Only the Difference Engine No. 1, however, ever left Babbage’s drawing board. He spent the equivalent of about $1 million building the machine in the early 1830s. But only about one-seventh of the device was ever finished. In 1833, after a payment dispute with the contractor, Babbage’s project was abruptly canceled.
For the rest of his life, Babbage worked on designs for his machines and developed a reputation as the quintessential eccentric British scientist. Finally, in 2002, a museum completed the Difference Engine No. 2 from Babbage’s blueprints. When the museum tested the device, Babbage was vindicated: It worked.
ADDITIONAL FACTS
- Babbage was a candidate for a seat in Parliament in 1832, running as a liberal reformer. He was defeated and never ran for office again.
- He married Georgiana Whitmore in 1814. The couple had eight children, but five died in infancy.
- In addition to his mathematical pursuits, in 1847 Babbage also invented the ophthalmoscope, the device used by eye doctors to examine the retina.
