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Babbage's Calculating Engines: Being a Collection of Papers Relating to them; their History and Construction
The famous and prolific nineteenth-century mathematician, engineer and inventor Charles Babbage (1791–1871) was an early pioneer of computing. He planned several calculating machines, but none was built in his lifetime. On his death his youngest son, Henry P. Babbage, was charged with the task of completing an unfinished volume of papers on the machines, which was finally published in 1889 and is reissued here. The papers, by a variety of authors, were collected from journals including The Philosophical Magazine, The Edinburgh Review and Scientific Memoirs. They relate to the construction and potential application of Charles Babbage's calculating engines, notably the Difference Engine and the more complex Analytical Engine, which was to be programmed using punched cards. The book also includes correspondence with members of scientific societies, as well as proceedings, catalogues and drawings. Included is a complete catalogue of the drawings of the Analytical Engine.
388 pages, Paperback
First published May 20, 2010
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About the author
Charles Babbage
86 books21 followersBritish mathematician Charles Babbage invented an analytical machine, based on similar principles to those that modern computers use.
This English philosopher and mechanical engineer originated the concept of digital programming. Some persons consider Babbage a "father" and credit him with the first that eventually led to more complex electronic designs but find all essential ideas in his engine. His varied work in other fields led to his described "preeminence" of his century.
The science museum in London displays incomplete parts of Babbage. From original plans of Babbage, people in 1991 constructed a functioning difference engine. Built to achievable tolerances in the 19th century, the success of the finished engine indicated that Babbage worked.
This English philosopher and mechanical engineer originated the concept of digital programming. Some persons consider Babbage a "father" and credit him with the first that eventually led to more complex electronic designs but find all essential ideas in his engine. His varied work in other fields led to his described "preeminence" of his century.
The science museum in London displays incomplete parts of Babbage. From original plans of Babbage, people in 1991 constructed a functioning difference engine. Built to achievable tolerances in the 19th century, the success of the finished engine indicated that Babbage worked.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 29, 2023
Free download available at Project Gutenberg
I made the proofing of this book for Free Literature and Project Gutenberg will publish it.
THE
EDINBURGH REVIEW.
JULY, 1834.
No. CXX.
Art I.--1. Letter to Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. P.R.S., _on the application
of Machinery to Calculate and Print Mathematical Tables_. By CHARLES
BABBAGE, Esq. F.R.S. 4to. Printed by order of the House of Commons.
2. _On the Application of Machinery to the Calculation of Astronomical and
Mathematical Tables_. By CHARLES BABBAGE, Esq. Memoirs Astron. Soc.
Vol. I. Part 2. London: 1822.
3. _Address to the Astronomical Society, by Henry Thomas Colebrooke,
Esq. F.R.S. President, on presenting the first gold medal of the Society
to Charles Babbage, Esq. for the invention of the Calculating Engine_.
Memoirs Astron. Soc. Vol. I. Part 2. London: 1822.
4. _On the determination of the General Term of a new Class of Infinite
Series_. By CHARLES BABBAGE, Esq. Transactions Camb. Phil. Soc.
Cambridge: 1824.
5. _On Errors common to many Tables of Logarithms_. By CHARLES BABBAGE,
Esq. Memoirs Astron. Soc. London: 1827.
6. _On a Method of Expressing by Signs the Action of Machinery_.
By CHARLES BABBAGE, Esq. Phil. Trans. London: 1826.
7. _Report by the Committee appointed by the Council of the Royal
Society to consider the subject referred to in a Communication received
by them from the Treasury, respecting Mr Babbage's Calculating Engine,
and to report thereupon_. London: 1829.
I made the proofing of this book for Free Literature and Project Gutenberg will publish it.
THE
EDINBURGH REVIEW.
JULY, 1834.
No. CXX.
Art I.--1. Letter to Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. P.R.S., _on the application
of Machinery to Calculate and Print Mathematical Tables_. By CHARLES
BABBAGE, Esq. F.R.S. 4to. Printed by order of the House of Commons.
2. _On the Application of Machinery to the Calculation of Astronomical and
Mathematical Tables_. By CHARLES BABBAGE, Esq. Memoirs Astron. Soc.
Vol. I. Part 2. London: 1822.
3. _Address to the Astronomical Society, by Henry Thomas Colebrooke,
Esq. F.R.S. President, on presenting the first gold medal of the Society
to Charles Babbage, Esq. for the invention of the Calculating Engine_.
Memoirs Astron. Soc. Vol. I. Part 2. London: 1822.
4. _On the determination of the General Term of a new Class of Infinite
Series_. By CHARLES BABBAGE, Esq. Transactions Camb. Phil. Soc.
Cambridge: 1824.
5. _On Errors common to many Tables of Logarithms_. By CHARLES BABBAGE,
Esq. Memoirs Astron. Soc. London: 1827.
6. _On a Method of Expressing by Signs the Action of Machinery_.
By CHARLES BABBAGE, Esq. Phil. Trans. London: 1826.
7. _Report by the Committee appointed by the Council of the Royal
Society to consider the subject referred to in a Communication received
by them from the Treasury, respecting Mr Babbage's Calculating Engine,
and to report thereupon_. London: 1829.
October 9, 2023
Of historical interest in general, though the details are tedious and difficult to follow without more diagrams. Honestly, the long Victorian periods would probably be hard to follow with diagrams.
Despite its attribution to Babbage, it isn't by him (the author is a Mr. Lardner), and it talks about him in the third person. It outlines the great importance of accurate tables of figures for various kinds of calculations, from land surveying to navigation and astronomy, and how difficult they are to obtain given human propensity to error; talks up Babbage's solution, the "Difference Engine," which would use his combined mathematical and engineering expertise to produce such accurate tables using mechanical calculation and printing; and closes with a summary of the state of the project, which was suspended by the time this book was written in 1834, and finally abandoned by the British Government (which had funded it to the tune of 17,000 pounds, or something more than half a million dollars in today's money - a relatively cheap project considering its magnitude) in 1842. Babbage was more interested in developing his ideas than in producing a working machine, and also clashed with his chief engineer, and his attention had already moved on to the more grandiose Analytical Engine, which would have been a programmable general-purpose computer if it had ever been built (or could have been built with the technology of the time, which is still an open question).
Babbage was, unfortunately, a combination of ahead of his time, lacking in the discipline to focus on one thing until it was done, and difficult to get along with - resembling many other creative people in these respects - and his early contributions were forgotten by the time technology enabled working computers to be built in the 1940s. But this is an interesting insight into the state of high technology, and its potential impact on society, nearly 200 years ago.
Despite its attribution to Babbage, it isn't by him (the author is a Mr. Lardner), and it talks about him in the third person. It outlines the great importance of accurate tables of figures for various kinds of calculations, from land surveying to navigation and astronomy, and how difficult they are to obtain given human propensity to error; talks up Babbage's solution, the "Difference Engine," which would use his combined mathematical and engineering expertise to produce such accurate tables using mechanical calculation and printing; and closes with a summary of the state of the project, which was suspended by the time this book was written in 1834, and finally abandoned by the British Government (which had funded it to the tune of 17,000 pounds, or something more than half a million dollars in today's money - a relatively cheap project considering its magnitude) in 1842. Babbage was more interested in developing his ideas than in producing a working machine, and also clashed with his chief engineer, and his attention had already moved on to the more grandiose Analytical Engine, which would have been a programmable general-purpose computer if it had ever been built (or could have been built with the technology of the time, which is still an open question).
Babbage was, unfortunately, a combination of ahead of his time, lacking in the discipline to focus on one thing until it was done, and difficult to get along with - resembling many other creative people in these respects - and his early contributions were forgotten by the time technology enabled working computers to be built in the 1940s. But this is an interesting insight into the state of high technology, and its potential impact on society, nearly 200 years ago.
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November 7, 2025"The most complicated language is that of the machine because it is all at once condense, precise, and universal."
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews