Charles Babbage Inventions and Accomplishments

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Charles Babbage was an English polymath, inventor, mechanical engineer, and philosopher who became popular due to his concept in creating a programmable computer. Before you know Charles Babbage inventions, you have to discover something about his early life first. He was born in 44 Crosby Row Walworth Road in London, England. This information came from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography because in some researches, his birth place is unclear. His birth date was December 26, 1792. He was one of the siblings of Betsy Plumleigh Teape and Benjamin Babbage.

John Graham-Cumming’s TedTalk About Babbage Inventing the Computer in 1830

His father was the banking partner of the founder of Praed’s and Co. who was William Praed. In 1808, Charles and his family moved to an old Rowdens house that is located in East Teignmouth. When he was 8n years old, he was brought by his family in the country school in the Alphington which is very near the Exeter in order to have a continuous recovery from a serious health issue.

As the time passes by, he was able to recover in that health issue and he continued studying in Cambridge Trinity College. Charles gained lots of information that broaden his knowledge in mathematics, economics, and astrology. After he finished studying in college, he fell in love with Georgia Whitmore and they got married.

When talking about Charles Babbage inventions, he actually made lots of inventions which make the life of the people light and easy. He was recognized as the “Father of Computer” because of his mechanical computer and other engines that worked safe and effective. The engines that he invented are all listed below:

1) Analytical engine
This is a more complex engine wherein Charles combined a variety of designs from his former machines. Analytical engine can be programmed through the use of a punch card. The other components of it are used in calculating numbers through programming them. But, this machine fails to work because the program of it needs to have high technology in order to work well.

2) Difference engine
He made this engine through the use of calculating numerical tables along with human errors and Charles called this “difference engine”. In 1822, he was in Cambridge and he found a similar issue with human error that comes with a very high rate. This is the main reason why he made a different engine. He used it in computing significant values in the functions of polynomials.

3) Calculating engine

Even though he was very smart in math, he still used a machine that will help him in computing large numbers fast and easy. There are times that he became dependent to other people in performing basic calculations. From the results that he got from them, he discovered many errors. Because of this, in 1812, he began to think about the process in which he can calculate mechanically without gaining lots of errors.

Through the calculators that were made by G. Leibniz and W. Schickard, he was inspired to create his own calculating machine. This was a great opportunity for him to create a calculator but he failed to finish it due to financial and personal issues.

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