During my time in Silicon Valley, I went to visit the computer history museum. It was a fascinating experience and quickly turned from 'just a quick glimpse' to a full afternoon exploring. The exhibits started way back with slide rues and abacuses all the way to current day computing. One of the early inventions that caught my eye was the difference engine which was developed by Charles Babbage.
At the time, if you wanted to compute a difficult equation, like a polynomial, you would open up a book of tables which would have pre-calculated answers. These tables were prepared by 'computers' who were humans who understood basic arithmetic. This human calculation opened the tables up to a lot of errors due to miscalculation and incorrect transcription. Charles Babbage, an esteemed mathematician, recognised this and set out on a mission to create a machine which could replace human 'computers'.
These computational tables were time-consuming and expensive to produce and so when the British government heard about a difference engine that would make the task more economical, they provided Babbage with £17,000 in funding for this machine. Babbage set to work in 1821 and by 1832 the plans for the difference engine were completed. It was insanely complicated and had over 25,000 parts. Manufacturing begun, but in 1833, Joseph Clement, the machinist responsible for actually building the machine, refused to continue unless he was prepaid and so the project stopped. This was due to the complexity of the machining, with many believing the tolerances required being too precise for the machining techniques of the time. However, through the process of this endeavour, Britain gained an edge in precision machining which remained for many years.
Only a year later, Babbage, inspired by the Jacquard loom, turned his sights to a machine which was programable, through the use of punchcards. He would call it the Analytical engine. While the difference engine was essentially a calculator, the analytical engine was a computer. Although it was conceived so long before modern computing, it had the same core structure. A central processing unit (CPU) and memory (that could store 1,000 numbers of up to 50 decimal places). However, unlike modern computing Babbage's design was powered by a steam engine and entirely mechanical.
Given the failure of his Difference engine, the government was not interested in funding this new machine and so the designs were stored away at the Babbage estate. Many of Charles's belongings were donated to museums upon his death in 1871.
It was not until 1991 (153 years after the drawings were completed) that a curator at the London Science museum came across Babbage's original plans for the difference engine. After seeing the plans and believing the museum had the resources, they set out to construct the difference engine. Using tolerances achievable during Babbage's time, the museum built the difference engine exactly from his drawings. With basically no alterations, the machine worked perfectly as designed.
Babbage was not just a mathematician, he was a serial inventor. Among an array of things, he invented the ophthalmoscope to examine peoples eyes and the cow catcher on the front or trains to help clear debris.
I found the story of the difference engine so fascinating. A hidden, mostly unspoken about feat of engineering that lay waiting for its true genius to be uncovered for over 150 years. To me, the story of Charles Babbage represents the impact of timing and the importance of fundraising. His creation was clearly well ahead of its time and had a great amount of promise, but due to the inability to show early results, it never eventuated. It also shows that even truly genius ideas are worthless unless they get the resources to bring them to life.
I know this article was a bit left of field, but I hope you found it interesting. Stay tuned for some really exciting book summaries in the coming weeks! Until then, make sure to sign up for the newsletter.
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