Abstract
This chapter discusses the life of Charles Babbage and his contribution to computing. He was born on 26 December 1791at his father's home not far from a famous inn, the Elephant and Castle, in London. Babbage had no immediate successor, and it was not until the first digital computers were working in the middle of the present century that people began to take a renewed interest in his ideas. Babbage presented his proposals to the British government in 1823 and they agreed to finance the construction of the Difference Engine. All went well until 1832 when Babbage had a disagreement with his engineer and the work stopped. Things drifted on until 1842 when the government of the day had to decide whether to continue with the project or to terminate it. After going into the matter very thoroughly and making his own enquiries, G.B. Airy advised the government against sinking further money in the Difference Engine and the government took his advice. If Babbage had stopped at the Difference Engine little more would have been heard of him. However, he went on to the Analytical Engine that, if it had been built, would have been a true general-purpose computer—not a stored program computer in the modern sense but more like the Harvard Mark I.
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