Introduction
If one day you become curious enough to observe a map of the Moon, you will discover a crater located near its north pole whose name is Charles Babbage. Today his name is almost always mentioned in every computational history textbook that exists where he is called the “father of modern computation.” There is even the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota with the sole purpose of promoting the study of information processing. Many honors must correspond, undoubtedly to a great man that had caused a significant impact on the development of the modern computer. This statement, though true, is somewhat controversial because although Babbage laid the principles on which computers are based, their dream of building …show more content…
Being a weak and sickly child, his parents feared for little Charles, who was suffering from a severe fever. Searching for a cure, his parents had decided to send him to Teignmouth, Devonshire, which caused some confusion over his birthplace [1]. His interest in learning how thinks worked manifested itself at an early age – this provided the framework for the two passions he would keep his entire life: mathematics and the supernatural. It is believed that his talent for mathematics could have been inherited from his father, but his passion for the occult seemed to be a hobby motivated solely by his enormous creative imagination. It is said that he once tried to contact the devil by pricking his finger to obtain a drop of blood and reciting a prayer backwards [2]. However, the small Babbage was disappointed that the Prince of Darkness never appeared following his incantation. He even made a pact with his childhood best friend: whoever died first promised to manifest the other as a ghost [2]. Babbage was again disappointed to see that when his friend had died at the young age of 18, he did not honor his part of the deal by returning as a ghost overnight. Despite his constant failures, his interest in …show more content…
They married the same year he had graduated from Cambridge, on the 2nd of July, 1814. Although he was without money and employment, Babbage was worry free, because he was confident enough in his intellectual skillset to keep them afloat. In his youth, he often pondered the possibility of joining the Church as a profession, until he learned of its meager pay. After he tried to invest in mining, only to convince himself that it was not too lucrative a business venture. After getting married, Babbage then resorted to what he knew best: math, and devoted himself to it passionately from 1815 until 1820, during which he had studied algebra and wrote a number of articles on functional theory. He became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1816 and played a leading role in the founding of the Astronomical Society in 1820. However, his position as a liberal in a highly conservative era of England prevented him from obtaining a teaching position for quite some time. Meanwhile, his wife had given birth to 8 children in just over a 13-year period of time. In February of 1827, Babbage’s father had passed on, leaving all of his possessions and property to Charles, who went on to become a very rich man, inheriting his father’s wealth. Life seemed to smile at him, as he wouldn’t need to work to earn a living and could devote himself entirely to his mathematic ventures for the rest
If one day you become curious enough to observe a map of the Moon, you will discover a crater located near its north pole whose name is Charles Babbage. Today his name is almost always mentioned in every computational history textbook that exists where he is called the “father of modern computation.” There is even the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota with the sole purpose of promoting the study of information processing. Many honors must correspond, undoubtedly to a great man that had caused a significant impact on the development of the modern computer. This statement, though true, is somewhat controversial because although Babbage laid the principles on which computers are based, their dream of building …show more content…
Being a weak and sickly child, his parents feared for little Charles, who was suffering from a severe fever. Searching for a cure, his parents had decided to send him to Teignmouth, Devonshire, which caused some confusion over his birthplace [1]. His interest in learning how thinks worked manifested itself at an early age – this provided the framework for the two passions he would keep his entire life: mathematics and the supernatural. It is believed that his talent for mathematics could have been inherited from his father, but his passion for the occult seemed to be a hobby motivated solely by his enormous creative imagination. It is said that he once tried to contact the devil by pricking his finger to obtain a drop of blood and reciting a prayer backwards [2]. However, the small Babbage was disappointed that the Prince of Darkness never appeared following his incantation. He even made a pact with his childhood best friend: whoever died first promised to manifest the other as a ghost [2]. Babbage was again disappointed to see that when his friend had died at the young age of 18, he did not honor his part of the deal by returning as a ghost overnight. Despite his constant failures, his interest in …show more content…
They married the same year he had graduated from Cambridge, on the 2nd of July, 1814. Although he was without money and employment, Babbage was worry free, because he was confident enough in his intellectual skillset to keep them afloat. In his youth, he often pondered the possibility of joining the Church as a profession, until he learned of its meager pay. After he tried to invest in mining, only to convince himself that it was not too lucrative a business venture. After getting married, Babbage then resorted to what he knew best: math, and devoted himself to it passionately from 1815 until 1820, during which he had studied algebra and wrote a number of articles on functional theory. He became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1816 and played a leading role in the founding of the Astronomical Society in 1820. However, his position as a liberal in a highly conservative era of England prevented him from obtaining a teaching position for quite some time. Meanwhile, his wife had given birth to 8 children in just over a 13-year period of time. In February of 1827, Babbage’s father had passed on, leaving all of his possessions and property to Charles, who went on to become a very rich man, inheriting his father’s wealth. Life seemed to smile at him, as he wouldn’t need to work to earn a living and could devote himself entirely to his mathematic ventures for the rest