The computer of Charles Babbage. Biography, ideas and inventions by Charles Babbage

Charles Babbage is an English mathematician and inventor who designed the first automatic digital computer. In addition, he helped create a modern English postal system and compiled the first reliable actuarial tables, invented a variety of speedometer and railway puffer cleaner.

Biography of Charles Babbage

Born in London on December 26, 1791, in the family of a partner of Praeds Bank Benjamin Babbage, the owner of the Bitton Estate in Tinmouth, and Betsy Plumley Type. In 1808, the family decided to move to the old Rowden House, located in East Tinmouth, and the father became the headman of the neighboring church of St. Michael.

Charles's father was a rich man, so he could study in several elite schools. At the age of 8 he had to go to a rural school to recover from a dangerous illness. His parents decided that the child's brain "should not be too strained". According to Babbage, "this great idleness, perhaps, led to some of his childish arguments."

Then he entered the gymnasium of King Edward VI in Totnes, South Devon, a thriving school of general education, which continues to this day, but the state of health forced Charles to turn to private teachers for a while. Finally, he entered a closed academy for 30 students, led by the Rev. Stephen Freeman. The institution had an extensive library, which Babbage used for independent study of mathematics and learned to love it. After leaving the academy, he had two more personal mentors. One of them was a Cambridge clerk, about teaching which Charles responded as follows: "I'm afraid that I did not get all the benefits that I could get." The other was an Oxford professor. He taught Charles Babbage to the classics so that he could be accepted into Cambridge.

Studying at the University

In October 1810, Babbage arrived in Cambridge and entered Trinity College. He had a brilliant education - he knew Lagrange, Leibniz, Lacroix, Simpson and was seriously disappointed by the available mathematical programs. Therefore, together with John Herschel, George Peacock and other friends, he decided to form an Analytical Society.

When in 1812 Babbage moved to Cambridge Peterhouse, he was the best mathematician; But he did not graduate with honors. He received an honorary degree later, even without taking exams, in 1814.

In 1814, Charles Babbage married Georgiana Whitmore. His father for some reason never blessed him. The family lived in peace in London, Devonshire Street, 5. Only three of their eight children survived to adulthood.

Charles's father, his wife and one of his sons died tragically in 1827.

Computer Design

In the time of Charles Babbage, mistakes were often made in the calculation of mathematical tables, so he decided to find a new method that would do this mechanically, eliminating the factor of human error. This idea originated with him very early, back in 1812.

Three different factors influenced his decision:

• He did not like inaccuracy and inaccuracy;
• Log tables were easily given to him;
• He was inspired by the existing work on counting machines by W. Schickard, B. Pascal and G. Leibniz.

He discussed the basic principles of calculating the device in a letter to Sir H. Davy at the beginning of 1822.

Difference machine

Babbage presented what he called the "difference machine" to the Royal Astronomical Society on June 14, 1822, in a paper entitled "Remarks on the application of computer calculations of astronomical and mathematical tables." He could compute polynomials using a numerical method called the difference method.

The society approved the idea, and in 1823 the government granted him £ 1500 to build it. Babbage made a workshop in one of the rooms in his house and hired Joseph Clement to oversee the construction of the device. Each part had to be done manually with the help of special tools, many of which he developed himself. Charles made many trips to industrial enterprises to better understand the production processes. Based on these travels and his personal experience of creating a car in 1832, Babbage published a paper "On the Economics of Machines and Production." This was the first publication of what is today called the "scientific organization of production."

Personal tragedy and travel around Europe

The death of Georgiana's wife, the father of Charles Babbage and his young son, interrupted construction in 1827. The work heavily burdened him, and he was on the brink of failure. John Herschel and several other friends persuaded Babbage to travel to Europe to regain strength. He traveled through the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, visiting universities and manufacturing.

In Italy, he learned that he was appointed Lucasovsky professor of mathematics at Cambridge University. Initially, he wanted to refuse, but his friends convinced him otherwise. On his return to England in 1828, he moved to Dorset Street, 1.

Resumption of work

During the absence of Babbage, the project of the difference machine came under fire. Rumors spread that he wasted the government's money, that the machine does not work and that it would not have any practical significance if it were made. John Herschel and the Royal Society publicly defended the project. The government continued its support, providing 1,500 pounds on April 29, 1829, 3000 pounds on December 3, and the same on February 24, 1830. The work was continued, but Babbage was constantly having trouble getting money from the treasury.

Refusal of the project

The financial problems of Charles Babbage coincided with the aggravation of disagreements with Clement. Babbage behind his house built a two-story, 15-meter-long workshop. She had a glass roof for lighting, as well as a fireproof clean room to store the car. Clement refused to move to a new workshop and demanded money to travel around the city to monitor work. In response, Babbage suggested that he receive a fee directly from the treasury. Clement refused and stopped working on the project.

Moreover, he refused to transfer the drawings and tools used to create the difference machine. After investing £ 23,000, including 6,000 pounds of Babbage's own funds, the work on the unfinished device was stopped in 1834. In 1842, the government formally abandoned this project.

Charles Babbage and his analytical machine

In the distance from the difference machine, the inventor began to think about its improved version. Between 1833 and 1842, Charles tried to build a device that could be programmed to produce any computations, not just those relating to polynomial equations. The first breakthrough occurred when he redirected the output of the device to its input to solve further equations. He described it as a machine that "eats its own tail". It did not take him long to determine the basic elements of the analytical engine.

The computer of Charles Babbage to enter data and indicate the order of necessary calculations used punch cards borrowed from the Jacquard loom. The device consisted of two parts: a mill and storage. The mill, corresponding to the processor of a modern computer, performed operations on data received from the storage, which can be considered memory. It was the world's first general-purpose computer.

The computer of Charles Babbage was designed in 1835. The scale of the work was truly incredible. Babbage and several assistants created 500 large project drawings, 1000 sheets of mechanical designations and 7000 sheets of descriptions. The completed mill was 4.6 m in height and 1.8 m in diameter. The store of 100 digits stretched for 7.6 m. For its new machine, Babbage built only small test parts. Completely the apparatus was never completed. In 1842, after repeated unsuccessful attempts to obtain government funding, he turned to Sir Robert Peel. He refused and instead offered him a knighthood. Babbage refused. He continued to change and improve the design for many years to come.

Countess Lovelace

In October 1842, Federico Luigi, an Italian general and mathematician, published an article about an analytical machine. Augusta Ada King, Countess Lovelace, a longtime friend of Babbage, translated the work into English. Charles suggested that she provide the translation with notes. Between 1842 and 1843, the couple co-wrote seven notes, the total length of which was three times the actual size of the articles. In one of them, Ada prepared a table for the execution of the program that Babbage had created to compute the Bernoulli numbers. In another she wrote about a generalized algebraic machine that can perform operations with symbols just like with numbers. Lovelace was perhaps the first who understood the more general purposes of the Babbage device, and some consider her the world's first computer programmer. She began working on a book describing the analytical machine in more detail, but did not have time to finish it.

Miracle of mechanical engineering

Between October 1846 to March 1849, Babbage proceeded to design the second difference machine, using the knowledge he had gained while creating the analytical one. It used only 8000 parts, three times less than in the first. It was a miracle of mechanical engineering.

Unlike the analytical one, which he constantly debugged and modified, the second difference machine of Charles Babbage did not undergo changes after the initial stage of development. Further, the inventor made no attempt to construct the device.

24 drawings remained in the archives of the science museum, until the ideas of Charles Babbage were realized in 1985-1991 by creating a full-length replica on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of his birth. Dimensions of the device were 3.4 m in length, 2.1 m in height and 46 cm in depth, and its weight - 2.6 tons. The limits of accuracy were limited to values that could be achieved at that time.

Achievements

In 1824, Babbage received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society "for his invention of machines for calculating mathematical and astronomical tables."

From 1828 to 1839, Babbage was a professor of mathematics at Lucas University in Cambridge. He wrote a lot for a number of scientific periodicals, and also played an important role in the creation of the Astronomical Society in 1820 and the Statistical Society in 1834.

In 1837, responding to the 8 official Bridgewater treatises "On the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God, Appearing in Creation," he published the ninth Bridgewater Treatise, putting forth the thesis that God, possessing omnipotence and foresight, created a divine legislator, producing laws ( Or programs), which then at appropriate times created species, thereby eliminating the need to perform miracles every time it was required to create a new species. The book contains excerpts from the author's correspondence with John Herschel on this subject.

Charles Babbage also achieved notable results in cryptography. He broke the cipher with an auto-key, as well as a much weaker cipher, which today is called the cipher Vigenera. Babbage's discovery was used by the British military and was published only a few years later. As a result, the right of primacy was transferred to Friedrich Kasiski, who came to the same result several years later.

In 1838, Babbage invented a purifier, a metal frame attached to the front of the locomotive, clearing the path from the barriers. He also conducted a series of studies of the Great Western Railway of Isambard Kingdome Brunel.

He only once tried to engage in politics when in 1832 he participated in elections in the town of Finsbury. By results of voting Babbage took the last place.

The mathematician and inventor died October 18, 1871 at the age of 79 years.

Parts of the unfinished mechanisms of computing devices created by him are available for visiting at the Science Museum in London. In 1991, Charles Babbage's difference machine was built on the basis of his original plans, and it functioned perfectly.