Mathematician:Charles Babbage

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Mathematician

English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer.

Originated, together with Ada Lovelace, the concept of a programmable computer.

Founder of both the Royal Statistical Society and the Royal Astronomical Society.


Nationality

English


History

  • Born: 26 December 1791 in London, England
  • Died: 18 October 1871 in London, England

Historical Note

The precise date of birth of Charles Babbage was at one point uncertain.

Many sources report it as $26$ December $1792$.

However, it has been established that in fact it was $26$ December $1791$.


Theorems and Definitions

Results named for Charles Babbage can be found here.

Definitions of concepts named for Charles Babbage can be found here.


Publications

  • 1826: A Comparative View of the Various Institutions for the Assurance of Lives
  • 1830: Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on Some of Its Causes
  • 1835: On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures (4th ed.)
  • 1837: The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise, a Fragment
  • 1841: Table of the Logarithms of the Natural Numbers from $1$ to $108000$
  • 1851: The Exposition of 1851
  • 1864: Passages from the Life of a Philosopher


Notable Quotes

On two occasions I have been asked, "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" ... I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.


Sources