Who was Charles Babbage?
Mathematician and Inventor of calculating machine
(Forerunner to Computers).
Date and Place of Birth:
26th December 1791, 44 Crosby Row, Walworth Road,
London, England.
Family Background:
Son of Benjamin Babbage, a partner in the banking
firm of Praed, Mackworth and Babbage.
Education:
Privately and Trinity and St. Peter's College,
Cambridge. Graduated 1814.
Chronology/Biography of Charles Babbage:
1792: (6 January)
Baptised at St. Mary's Newington, London.
1808: Family moved
into the old Rowdens House in East Teignmouth, Devon. His father
became a warden of the nearby St. Michael’s Church.
1812: Founded the
Analytical Society of Cambridge with John Herschel and George Peacock.
His ambition was to eliminate errors in astronomical
and mathematical tables by manufacturing machines that calculated
and printed without any human intervention.
1827: Deaths of
his Wife, Father and two of his sons.
1834: First Manufacture
of Babbage's computer or "Difference Engine" which achieved
automatic printing.
Written Works:
- 1834: "Economy
of Machines."
Marriage:
On 25 July 1814, to Georgiana Whitmore at St.
Michael's Church,Teignmouth, Devon.
Places of Interest:
DEVON:
The Elizabethan House and Museum, 70 Fore Street,
Totnes holds display on his life and work.
LONDON:
Science Museum, South Kensington has a model
of the first counting engine.
Date and Place of Death:
18th October 1871, London, England.
Age at Death:
78.
Site of Grave:
Kensal Green Cemetery, Kensal Green, London.
