The Magazine of IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu July 2017 - 26

HISTORY SPOTLIGHT

Babbage and His Analytical Engine
The Analytical Engine was designed by Charles Babbage,
an English mathematician, during the 1830s. Although his
plans for the device are extensive, it was not constructed
due to lack of funding. The functioning of the Analytical
Engine was mechanical and used decimal arithmetic.
Original features included programmable operations and
an internal memory. Inspired by punch-card control of
silk-weaving looms, Babbage provided for programming
of the machine using punch cards. The device was a
significance advance in computing technology and
can be considered the first general-purpose computer
design. His work predated the modern general-purpose
computers by more than a century. For this contribution,
Babbage is often credited as the father of computing.

method. Preliminary work on his first Difference Engine
was funded by the British government, but the device was
never finished. This Difference Engine design led to his
work on the programmable, general-purpose Analytical
Engine. He returned to the basic computing problem
later in life and designed an improved device, called the
Difference Engine No. 2. A complete difference engine
using Babbage's plans was built in 1991 to confirm
that the design was feasible even with the tolerances
possible with 19th-century technology.
For further study.
Biography of Charles Babbage at the Engineering and
Technology History Wiki "Charles Babbage," http://ethw.
org/Charles_Babbage
Discussion of the life and contributions of Charles Babbage
see IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, notable
examples are A. G. Bromley, "Charles Babbage's Analytical
Engine, 1838," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing,
4(3) 196-217 (1982). D. D. Swade, "The Construction of
Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2," IEEE Annals
of the History of Computing, 27(3) 70-88 (2005).
Overview of Babbage's Engines at the Computer History
Museum
"The
Babbage
Engine,"
http://www.
computerhistory.org/babbage/

FIGURE 1 Charles Babbage. Image courtesy of the Engineering and
Technology History Wiki

Charles Babbage (1791-1871) became interested
in better means of computing due to difficulties
in generating mathematical tables. The manuallygenerated tables of the time were prone to human
errors. He proposed a mechanical design to compute
values polynominal functions using the finite differences

FIGURE 2 Analytical Machine. Image courtesy of the Engineering and
Technology History Wiki

www.hkn.org //

THE BRIDGE

http://www.ethw.org/Charles_Babbage http://www.ethw.org/Charles_Babbage http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/ http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/ http://www.hkn.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Magazine of IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu July 2017