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Babbage, Charles
Died: 1871 AD, at 79 years of age.
Nationality: British
Categories: Inventor, Mathematicians
1791 - Charles Babbage was born 26th of December in Totnes, Devonshire England.
1810 - Matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge. Appalled by the state of mathematical instruction there,
Babbage helped to organize the Analytical Society, which played a decisive role in weakening the grip of blind Newton-worship at Cambridge and Oxford.
1813 - Published a translation of LaCroix's Differential and Integral Calculus, accompanied by several volumes of mathematical examples.
1814 - Babbage married Georgiana Whitmore. They had eight children, only three of whom survived to maturity.
1822 - Babbage produced the first model of the calculating engine that would be the consuming interest of his life. The machine produced mathematical tables, and since its operation was based upon the mathematical theory of finite differences, he called it a "difference engine." The government was interested, and a vague promise of financial assistance encouraged Babbage to begin building a full-scale machine.
1828-1839 - Babbage was Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge.
1834 - Began an eight-year campaign to convince the government to fund construction of the Analytical Engine.
1838 - Invented the pilot (also called a cow-catcher), the metal frame attached to the front of locomotives that clears the tracks of obstacles.
1848 - Drew up plans for a scaled-down version of the Analytical Engine, called the Difference Engine No. 2, but once again was unable to obtain funds for construction.
1871 - Babbage 18th of October in England.
Charles Babbage played a prominent part in the 19th-century revival of British science.
| | Page last updated: 11:53am, 06th Dec '06 |
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