Charles Babbage: And the Engines of Perfection (Oxford Portraits in Science) [Hardcover]

Bruce Collier (Author), James MacLachlan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 7, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0195089979 | ISBN-13: 978-0195089974

Charles Babbage, "the grandfather of the modern computer," did not live to see even one of his calculating machines at work. A dazzling genius with vision extending far beyond the limitations of the Victorian age, Babbage successfully calculated a table of logarithms during his years at Cambridge University, allowing mathematical calculations to be executed with extreme precision. Only the possibility of human error prevented complete accuracy, and Babbage understood that the only way to attain perfection is to leave the human mind entirely out of the equation. He devoted most of his life and spent most of his private fortune and government stipend trying to improve his difference engines and analytical engines.
Bruce Collier and James MacLachlan chronicle Babbage's education and scientific career, his remarkably active social life and long string of personal tragedies, his forays into philosophy and economics, his successes and failures, and the biggest disappointment of his life-- his ingenious inventions were centuries ahead of the primitive capabilities of Victorian technology.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up?Intertwining Babbage's personal life with his work as an inventor, this book tells the story of the mathematician's conception of and work on the first computers. Collier and MacLachlan discuss their subject's upbringing, education, and marriage as backdrops to his work. Babbage's interest in how things work is traced to his childhood fascination with his toys; his somewhat distant father is seen as a precursor to his relationships with his own children. An interesting sidelight concerns his discontentment with existing British scientific societies and his role as founder of the Astronomical Society of London. The book describes Babbage's interest in mathematics and how his longing for a way to automatically calculate long tables of numbers spurred him to begin designing calculating machines. The text outlines information on the design of his original Difference Engine as well as his plans for the later Analytical Engine, which contained the beginnings of the concepts of computer programming. Informative photos and diagrams illustrate the principles of Babbage's designs. Libraries that do not own Dan Halacy's Charles Babbage (Crowell-Collier, 1970; o.p.) will find this book nearly essential; others should evaluate this new title as more of an update than a replacement for the older book.?Jeffrey A. French, Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library, OH
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

This entry in the Portraits in Science series introduces a pioneer of the computer, 19th-century mathematician and philosopher Charles Babbage. Born in 1791 to affluent parents, Babbage excelled in the study of mathematics at Trinity College, Oxford; married young, he chose to support himself and his wife on their modest annual allowances rather than finding a job; one of his pet projects was inspired by his desire to escape dull classroom computations--and thus the idea for the Difference Engine was born. He constructed a small version of this mechanical calculating machine; kudos from the scientific community and financial support from the British government led to the development of a full-fledged prototype. He had to abandon it; his next inspiration, the Analytical Engine, was credited with containing many of the basic elements of an electronic brain (a CPU, memory banks, coded cards for programming), but was never completed either. While the discussions of how Babbage's machines function are fairly sophisticated and involved, the authors capture the inventor's personality, showing the impact the loss of his wife and child had on his work. Numerous sidebars explain the significance of logarithms, early mechanical calculators, the Jacquard Loom, and more. (b&w photographs and reproductions, chronology, further reading, index) (Biography. 12+) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (January 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195089979
• ISBN-13: 978-0195089974
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,401,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > Teens > Education & Reference > Science & Technology > Computers

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