Babbage, the Analytical Engine and the Turin Academy of Sciences

Abstract

Called a “pioneer of the computer,” Charles Babbage (1792–1871) is a prominent figure in the history of mathematics, engineering technology and statistical economics. His fame is connected with his attempt to build two kinds of calculating machines: the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine. As Babbage repeatedly stressed, the purpose of these machines was not simple calculation, but computation and printing without the errors of most mathematical and numerical tables. That meant offering a highly reliable instrument to pure and (this was an important argument) applied sciences. Mathematicians and astronomers could obtain logarithmic, trigonometric and astronomic tables. Shipping merchants and the insurance companies could acquire nautical and life assurance tables. Babbage was conscious of the unlimited possibilities offered by his machine: “as soon as an Analytical Engine exists, it will necessarily guide the future course of science.”2 In this sense he was really the “pioneer of the computer.”KeywordsDifference EngineBritish AssociationAnalytical EngineForeign FellowItalian ScientistThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.