XI Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2019

Charles Babbage was born in London, in a wealthy family, where he grew up in addition to three children. His Father-Benjamin Babbage was involved in the banking sector, in parallel led the business – he had his own company, and he was in partnership with several small firms.

When Charles was eight, his father sent him to a private school in Alfington. This decision was made due to the fact that Charles was a very painful child, and therefore with the load of ordinary schools simply cannot cope. After Alfington he went to the Academy in Anfield. Here he was particularly impressed by the library – it was absolutely everything, but most of all he liked textbooks in mathematics. It was here that he first discovered this science and fell in love with it forever.

In 1810 Charles became a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, while continuing his independent study of mathematics in his spare time. This perseverance has allowed not only to become the best student of the course, but also very quickly overtake the knowledge of even famous teachers.

Even then, young Charles noted that the level of development of mathematics as a science in Britain is much lower than in other continental countries. Then Babbage decided to act, fortunately, he had a lot of like-minded people. Thus, in 1812 Babbage and his friends initiated the creation of the"Analytical community". Initially, it was just a meeting, which discussed issues related to mathematics, but after a few years the community has intensified. Young people translated into English the works of well — known foreign scientists, thereby expanding the boundaries of learning opportunities for British youth, published their own works, and later became the initiators of the reform of mathematical education-first in the native University, and later in all higher educational institutions of the country.

In 1812 there was another significant event – Babbage left Trinity University and transferred to St. Peter's College where he received his bachelor's degree in 1814. All this time, Charles was active in research, and his track record was already a couple of voluminous works in different mathematical disciplines. However, the young talent was cramped in a small town, and he decided to change his place of residence.

Just a year after moving to the capital, in 1816 Babbage was honoured to become a member of the Royal society of London. A few years later, with the direct participation of Babbage, in the UK is based another society, this time astronomical. His contribution to the development of the organization was the improvement of the then Maritime directory by correcting errors in the existing tables. Calculating each value manually, he caught himself thinking many times about the need to automate this process.

As a fellow of the Royal astronomical society, in 1822 the scientist presented his extensive work entitled "Observations on the application of machines to the computation of mathematical tables". The report dealt with an invention called the" difference machine", the creation of which he was engaged since 1819.

To create his first invention, Charles equipped a separate workshop, and hired Joseph Clement to control production. The creation of the machine required a huge number of tools, as each of its elements was made by hand. Interestingly, most of the devices used were created by Babbage himself. In the end, the world saw a device consisting of a huge number of gears and levers capable of counting the value of polynomials of the 7th degree. The merits of the inventor were awarded the medal of the Astronomical society.

The idea of creating an improved machine came Babbage almost immediately after the presentation of his first creation. The big difference machine was to reduce the number of people involved in the calculation of mathematical, astrological and other tables. This would help not only to reduce the percentage of errors in them, but also to save money for labor. In 1823, the scientist secured funding for his project and immediately got down to business. However, he did not calculate the time and financial costs – he could not invest in the planned three years or in the allocated budget. The development lasted for many years – he constantly appealed to various public organizations and to the government. Sometimes they helped him, but eventually the project, the decision of the country's leadership, was closed.

However, the work of the scientist was not in vain. To bring the idea to life Babbage succeeded his colleague, Swiss inventor George a Peru Choice. In 1854, taking as a basis for the development of Charles, he, after making adjustments, yet presented to the world his version of the difference machine in several copies. A couple of years later, another scientist caught fire with the idea of a difference machine-it was the Swede Martin Viberg. Wiberg introduced the improvements already in invention Choice. His difference engine performed calculations of logarithmic tables, which were later published.

Babbage was not one of those who used to give up, and therefore the rejection of the project of the second difference machine was marked by the beginning of work on a new – analytical — device. The idea itself originated in the mind of the scientist during his work on the big machine, but its implementation he began only in 1834.

Babbage saw the innovative device as a single mechanism consisting of separate parts, each of which must perform a specific function. Operations with variables, precedence constraints running processes, storing the resulting data, as it is understood that only distributing "burden" in this way.

According to his idea, the device should consist of several parts, each of which would perform its function: operations with variables, control the sequence of operations and storage of the results of these operations. All developments were carried out exclusively at the expense of Babbage, and when the funds ran out, he had to abandon further work. He knew what to ask for finances from the government after last week's failure just makes no sense. See the world analytical engine still happened, but only after the death of its Creator. The project was completed on the initiative of his son – Henry Babbage.

The personal life of the great scientist was as difficult as his path to recognition. Married in 1814 in Georgiana, Wetmur, Babbage, and could not imagine what challenge lies ahead.

In 1815, the couple moved to London, where the scientist continued his work, and his wife was engaged in the creation of a family hearth. Everything changed in 1827, when under tragic circumstances his wife and two children died, and a little later his father passed away. This drove Charles into a prolonged depression and on the advice of friends, interrupting the development of the difference machine, he went on a trip to Europe. This helped him to return to life, and in 1828 he returned to work.

Just married Charles and Georgiana Whitmore had eight children, five of whom died as a child. The three remaining children of the inventor followed in his footsteps, becoming engineers and inventors.

There was another woman in the life of the scientist, with whom he was connected exclusively professional moments. Ada August Lovelace was the daughter of George Byron, and he met her in 1840 at one of the industrial exhibitions, which he attended with enviable regularity. She immediately imbued with the ideas of the scientist and became his faithful friend and one of the few who fully supported Babbage in his endeavors. They worked together on the creation of notes, Lovelace translated from French to English lecture notes Babbage (previously published by Luigi Menabrea), and published a number of his own works relating directly to the analytical engine Babbage.

Based on the development of Charles Babbage, a large difference engine was created –a fully functioning device was presented in 1991 at the London science Museum.

Babbage, in addition to the constant work on computers, found time for other, no less important work. So he participated in the creation of the tachometer, led the work in the field of traffic safety of trains, was a supporter of the "postal reform" in England and more. The cost of the second difference machine, taking into account the state and personal funds of Babbage is from 26 thousand to 43 thousand pounds. Unfinished project "Difference machine 2" was five more expensive than his first successful project.

Bibliographic list:

Чарлз Бэббидж [Электронный ресурс]. – Режим доступа: https://habr.com/ru/post/388517/ свободный.