Charles Babbage and His Invention
Charles Babbage, a famous British mathematician, wielded the technology of his era to design the Analytical Engine, a mechanical computing device that calculated error-free number tables. However, a lack of funding stunted its materialization. Still, Babbage's invention was a hundred years ahead of its time, a realization Lovelace made when she wrote of the engine's multi-purpose future.
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Video explains the punch cards Babbage used, as influenced by the Jacquard loom, for his programmable engine. Courtesy of Cosmic Polymath "Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine" 2012.
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Transcript Time 45 secs.
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Lovelace Meets Babbage and the Analytical Engine, 1833
Click to zoom Analytical Engine [5]
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Lovelace's encounter with Babbage and the Analytical Engine, coupled with her rare academic training, inspired her to write the first computer program despite criticism about her joining the scientific community.