A demo of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine

Summary

Dans ce script, Alan, un bénévole au Musée d'histoire de l'informatique, raconte l'histoire de Charles Babbage, son génie en mathématiques et ses concepts de machines, notamment la Différence Engine. Il explique le fonctionnement de la machine, basé sur le principe des différences finies, et son importance dans l'histoire de l'informatique. Alan mentionne également Ada Lovelace, la protégée de Babbage, qui a envisagé l'utilisation de machines pour manipuler des caractères et des mots. Le script est un hommage à l'innovation et à l'impact de Babbage sur le développement des ordinateurs mécaniques.

Takeaways

• 😀 Alan, un bénévole au Musée d'histoire de l'informatique, raconte l'histoire de Charles Babbage, ses conceptions de machines et la construction d'une machine incroyable.
• 🔧 Julie, qui actionne la manivelle, fournit le pouvoir à la machine et doit tourner régulièrement pour gérer les différentes charges.
• 🧮 La machine est basée sur le principe mathématique des différences finies et peut résoudre des équations polynomiales de cinquième ordre.
• 👨‍💻 Charles Babbage, un inventeur britannique, a conçu des machines à calculer avant l'ère des ordinateurs modernes, mais n'a jamais réussi à les construire entièrement.
• 🎓 Babbage était un homme de génie polyvalent, inventant aussi bien des instruments scientifiques que des équipements simples comme le cowcatcher pour locomotives.
• 💸 Il a cherché des fonds pour ses projets auprès du gouvernement britannique, mais a souvent été frustré par leur manque d'intérêt à soutenir son travail.
• ⚙️ La Difference Engine Number Two, conçue par Babbage, est une machine à calculer plus simple et a été finalement construite en 1991 grâce au soutien du gouvernement et de mécènes.
• 🏗️ L'assemblage de la machine a nécessité des compétences de haute volée en ingénierie et en mécanique, reflétant l'état de l'art de l'industrie britannique de l'époque.
• 🖨️ La machine comprend un système de mise en page et d'impression pour éviter les erreurs humaines, montrant l'attention portée par Babbage à la précision.
• 📈 L'impact de Babbage sur l'histoire de l'informatique est discuté, bien qu'il ait été largement anticipé sur son temps et que ses idées n'aient pas été immédiatement poursuivis.
• 👩‍💻 Ada Lovelace, la protégée de Babbage, a eu une vision précoce de l'utilisation des machines pour traiter non seulement des nombres mais aussi des caractères et des symboles.

Q & A

Qui est Alan et quel est son rôle dans le script?

Alan est un bénévole au Musée d'histoire de l'informatique et il raconte l'histoire de Charles Babbage, ses conceptions de machines et comment la machine derrière lui a été construite et a fini au musée.

Quel est le rôle de Julie dans la démonstration?

Julie est responsable de manœuvrer le manivelle qui alimente la machine, nécessitant une habileté pour gérer les charges variées et pour tourner la manivelle de manière régulière.

Quelle est la fonction de la machine derrière Alan?

La machine est basée sur le principe des différences finies et est capable de résoudre des équations polynomiales de cinqième ordre.

Quel est le lien entre Charles Babbage et le musée?

Charles Babbage est l'inventeur des machines que le musée a重建 et exposées, notamment l'Engine numérique un et l'Engine numérique deux.

Quelle est la signification des 'différences finies' mentionnées dans le script?

Les différences finies sont un principe mathématique utilisé pour résoudre des équations polynomiales, qui a été la base de la conception de la machine d'Babbage.

Pourquoi Charles Babbage a-t-il conçu la première Engine numérique?

Il a conçu la première Engine numérique pour recalculer les tables mathématiques de manière infallible, en réponse aux erreurs trouvées dans les publications existantes de ces tables.

Quelle est la différence entre l'Engine numérique un et l'Engine numérique deux?

L'Engine numérique un était un prototype plus petit, tandis que l'Engine numérique deux était une conception plus ambitieuse avec moins de pièces, mais jamais construite pendant la vie de Babbage.

Qui a financé la construction de l'Engine numérique un?

Le gouvernement britannique a financé la construction de l'Engine numérique un, bien que le projet n'ait jamais été achevé complètement.

Qui a finalement construit l'Engine numérique deux?

L'Engine numérique deux a été construite par le Musée de la science de Londres et par un entrepreneur américain nommé Nathan Myhrvold, qui a financé la construction d'une unité pour sa collection personnelle.

Quel est l'impact de Charles Babbage sur l'histoire de l'informatique?

Bien que Babbage ait été très en avance sur son temps et n'ait jamais construit ses machines, son travail a inspiré des idées futures en informatique, notamment à travers son protégée Ada Lovelace qui a envisagé la manipulation de symboles et de mots par des machines.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introduction to Charles Babbage and the Difference Engine

Alan, un bénévole au Musée d'histoire de l'informatique, présente Charles Babbage et son ingénierie mécanique. Il explique que le moteur à différences, un ordinateur mécanique, n'a jamais été construit au temps de Babbage, mais a été réalisé plus tard grâce à des financements et des compétences en ingénierie. Alan invite le public à observer le fonctionnement du moteur à différences, qui résout des équations de cinquième ordre en utilisant le principe des différences finies.

05:01

🔧 L'histoire des machines de Babbage et leur construction

Le récit explique comment Babbage, en collaboration avec un collègue, a décidé de créer une machine pour recalculer les tables mathématiques de manière infallible. Après avoir conçu la première machine, connue sous le nom de moteur différentiel numéro un, Babbage a conçu une machine encore plus ambitieuse : le moteur analytique. Malgré son manque de réalisation au cours de sa vie, son héritage a été préservé et ses idées ont été mises en œuvre plus de 130 ans plus tard, lorsque le Musée de la science de Londres a décidé de construire le moteur différentiel numéro deux.

10:02

🖨️ Le rôle du moteur à différences dans la révolution industrielle

Le texte décrit l'importance du moteur à différences dans la révolution industrielle, en tant qu'outil capable de calculer avec précision et d'imprimer les résultats sans erreur. Le processus d'impression et de moulage est détaillé, montrant comment Babbage a conçu la machine pour éviter toute erreur dans la transmission des données. L'engagement d'un entrepreneur américain, Nathan Myhrvold, a permis de terminer la construction du moteur à différences, qui est maintenant exposé au musée.

15:12

🔄 Comment fonctionne le moteur à différences et son impact sur l'histoire de l'informatique

Alan explique le fonctionnement interne du moteur à différences, en particulier le système de portage des chiffres et la manière dont la machine gère l'énergie pour effectuer les calculs. Il aborde également la question de l'impact de Babbage sur l'histoire de l'informatique, soulignant que, bien qu'il ait été un pionnier, son travail n'a pas été directement suivi par d'autres inventeurs de son époque. Cependant, son influence a été reconnue, notamment par Ada Lovelace, qui a envisagé la programmation des machines pour manipuler des caractères et des mots.

20:15

🏗️ Conclusion sur l'héritage de Babbage et la démystification de la machine

Le texte conclut sur la discussion de l'héritage de Babbage et de la machine, en soulignant que, bien que son travail ait été innovant, il n'a pas eu d'impact immédiat sur le développement des calculatrices. Cependant, le musée continue de valoriser son travail en le mettant en avant et en répondant aux questions du public. Le document invite également à une nouvelle observation du fonctionnement de la machine avant de conclure.

Keywords

💡Charles Babbage

Charles Babbage est présenté comme l'inventeur du premier calculateur mécanique, le moteur différentiel. Dans le script, Babbage est décrit comme un homme à l'esprit encyclopédique, comparable à Da Vinci, ayant conçu des machines innovantes et des concepts qui ont influencé l'histoire de l'informatique. Son travail sur le moteur différentiel et l'analyseur est célébré, bien qu'il n'ait jamais pu les construire entièrement pendant sa vie.

💡Machines à calculer

Les machines à calculer sont des dispositifs mécaniques conçus pour effectuer des calculs mathématiques. Elles sont au cœur du récit du script, en particulier le moteur différentiel de Babbage, qui était capable de résoudre des équations à l'aide de la méthode des différences finies. Le script mentionne également l'analyseur, une machine encore plus ambitieuse conçue par Babbage.

💡Différences finies

La méthode des différences finies est une technique mathématique utilisée pour résoudre des équations polynomiales. Dans le script, cette méthode est essentielle pour comprendre comment le moteur différentiel de Babbage fonctionne. Elle est utilisée pour calculer des tables de valeurs numériques, ce qui était crucial pour la navigation et l'ingénierie de l'époque.

💡Mécanisme de transmission

Le mécanisme de transmission est un élément clé de la machine décrite dans le script, qui permet le transfert de valeurs numériques d'une colonne à une autre. Il est mentionné comme un aspect crucial de la conception de Babbage, qui a permis à la machine de résoudre des équations de manière automatisée.

💡Impression 3D

L'impression 3D est une technologie mentionnée pour expliquer la façon dont Babbage aurait voulu produire des plaques d'impression pour sa machine. Le script décrit comment la machine incorpore un mécanisme d'impression qui utilise des plaques de plomb pour produire des caractères, similaire à la technologie d'impression 3D moderne.

💡Entrepreneur

Un entrepreneur est une personne qui met en œuvre des idées innovantes en créant des produits ou des services. Dans le script, l'entrepreneuriat est abordé lorsque Babbage cherche des fonds pour construire sa machine, ce qui est un aspect essentiel de la réalisation de projets technologiques innovants.

💡Musée d'histoire de l'informatique

Le Musée d'histoire de l'informatique est l'institution qui a重建了 Babbage's Difference Engine Number Two. Dans le script, le rôle du musée est crucial pour montrer comment les concepts de Babbage ont été reconnus et réalisés bien après sa mort, grâce au travail de curateurs et de mécènes.

💡Analyseur

L'analyseur est une machine conçue par Babbage qui était censée être capable d'effectuer des calculs plus complexes que le moteur différentiel, y compris l'addition, la soustraction, la multiplication et la division. Bien que le script ne mentionne pas l'analyseur en détail, il est un exemple de l'ambition de Babbage pour créer des machines capables de calculs informatiques avancés.

💡Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace est mentionnée comme la première programmeuse informatique et l'une des protégées de Babbage. Dans le script, elle est décrite comme ayant compris le potentiel des machines de Babbage pour traiter non seulement des nombres mais aussi des lettres et des symboles, ce qui lui a valu le titre de visionnaire dans l'histoire de l'informatique.

💡Mécanicien

Un mécanicien est quelqu'un qui construit et répare des machines. Dans le contexte du script, le mécanicien est crucial pour la réalisation des machines de Babbage, car il fallait des compétences de haute précision pour construire les engrenages et les autres composants de la machine.

Highlights

Alan introduces himself as a volunteer at the Computer History Museum and sets the stage for the story of Charles Babbage.

Julie demonstrates the power supply of the machine by cranking it, showcasing the machine's operation.

The machine is based on the mathematical principle of finite differences, a key concept for its operation.

Charles Babbage's background is explored, highlighting his education and multidisciplinary interests.

Babbage's inventive nature is discussed, including his inventions like the opthalmoscope and the cow catcher.

Alan reads a letter from Babbage, illustrating his personality and attention to detail.

The issue of inaccuracies in mathematical tables inspires Babbage to conceive the idea of a calculating machine.

Babbage's first machine, the Difference Engine Number One, is described, focusing on its design and purpose.

The need for funding and a skilled machinist to build Babbage's machines is emphasized.

Babbage's more ambitious project, the Analytical Engine, is introduced, detailing its advanced features.

The British government's refusal to fund Babbage's Difference Engine Number Two is mentioned.

Fast forward to 1985, the London Science Museum's decision to build Difference Engine Number Two is highlighted.

The completion of the calculating section of the machine by Babbage's 200th birthday is noted.

Nathan Myhrvold's funding of the complete Difference Engine and its display at the museum is discussed.

The machine's printing mechanism, designed to avoid errors, is explained.

The process of learning to operate the machine and the physical demands of cranking it are touched upon.

The concept of finite differences is explained in the context of solving polynomial equations.

The impact of Babbage's machines on computing history and Ada Lovelace's contribution is discussed.

The practical demonstration of the machine's operation and its significance in computing history is concluded.

Transcripts

[Music]

well welcome my name is

Alan you can

stay my name is Alan I'm a volunteer

dosen here at the Computer History

Museum and I'm going to tell you the

story of the man Charles babage his

machine designs and how this amazing

machine behind me happened to get built

and and come to our

Museum Julie standing down here by her

crank is the power

supply of this machine and uh takes a

lot of skills she's very uh skilled at

managing the various load on this crank

and she has to crank very steadily

because there a lot of stuff going on

and you'll be fascinated I think with

the story of babage and his times

because you probably all know what it is

to come to sort of develop something a

little ahead of its

time uh so uh this is a story very very

familiar to some of us um so before I

even begin talking about it it's good to

study it as a moving sculpture so let's

let Julie crank it through about five

Cycles here and you guys can look at it

if you have a we'll only have about 45

seconds but you should kind of rotate

around and go look at the back happening

and come back here in front of me in a

few seconds and we'll talk about it so

let's let's just make it move I'll get

out of the way

all righty come on back around to the

front we'll talk a little bit here

now in that little brief time uh Julie

was solving an equation what we call a

fifth order

polom um she did it five times in that

amount of time while we were watching

the

machine and um this machine is is based

on a mathematical principle called

finite differences we're going to talk

about that a little later but first let

me back up to talk about the

inventor Charles Babbage was born in

England in

1791 uh son of a London Banker um he was

sent to uh University very well educated

in mathematics and science and if you

look at the beginning of the 19th

century scientists were TR were were

multi-disciplined that is uh today we

have this amazing specialization but

back then scientists dab and

mathematicians dabbled in a lot of

different areas and babage was one of

those who we might called today a sort

of Da Vinci man he had lots of great

ideas and some of them got executed and

for example he invented the

opthalmoscope that Physicians look into

your eyes with that was complicated but

he also invented a simple thing called

the cow catcher that goes on the front

of

locomotives uh he also invented a a

semaphor signal to communicate between

ships at Sea and lighthouses very very

clever guy on the other hand like some

some residents of this Valley and I know

he wasn't great at communicating with

other carbon based life

forms uh he had a really kind of cogny

personality that got him in trouble

especially if you disagreed with him and

and that it wasn't only in Science and

Mathematics that that happened to give

you an idea an insight into his

personality I just want to read to you a

letter he wrote

to one of his contemporaries the poet

Tennison criticizing one of his poems

and asking him to please change

it the letter reads sir in your

otherwise beautiful poem the vision of

sin there's a verse which reads every

moment dies a man every moment one is

born it must be manifest that if this

were true the population of the world

would be at a

standstill I would suggest this is

I would suggest that the next edition of

your poem you have it read quote every

moment dies a man every moment one in

one 16th is

born so that gives you a little clue

into this sort of geeky personality here

okay the story of the machines really

begins in the early 1820s when

babage uh and a colleague are have a

project to review various publications

of books of mathem iCal tables now you

all look almost old enough to remember

the days when we had to use a slide rule

in these books to solve some of our

problems to look up natural logarithms

or common or common logarithms tables of

uh of integrals um trigonometric

functions and of course Britain navigate

was the king of the Seas the world's

superpower at the time using

astronomical tables to navigate on the

ocean well when he and his colleague

looked at very ious publications of

these books what do you think they

found yeah one book was different than

the next where is the era that's the

question babage immediately said we got

to think of a way to recalculate these

tables

infallibly after all this is the

Industrial Revolution we're inventing

railroads and factories Machinery of

production surely we can figure out a

way to do this and he drew up a machine

which today we call different engine

number one it relied on this principle

of finite differences to solve up to 7th

order polinomial equations and

um he then once he had it drawn up he

needed the next thing an entrepreneur

needs to bring his device to reality

which is Mone money money there were no

Venture capitalists uh in England in the

1830s so he went to the funer of Last

Resort that everybody loves to get money

from

the government the crown and they indeed

said okay we will fund it a very very

Loosey Goosey contract by the way and

Charles babage then needed the next

ingredient which was a very skilled

machinist toolmaker because you have to

remember in those days there were very

few standards how do you make gears

reliably what there were no standards

for screw threads all that stuff so he

found a very good tool maker who was uh

because he was a very good toolmaker

he's also a bit of a primadana so you

can imagine these two guys

communicating um first Difference Engine

um the only thing that he ever built was

a small demonstrator model which is

reproduced in a case over there if you

had a chance to look at it so he could

demonstrate it at parties and when he

was out trying to raise money for the

project um so he moved on though he kept

inventing things and he went to work on

a much much more ambitious project you

think he would scale down he scaled up

he TR he drew up the analytical engine

which was a fullscale computer

mechanical computer that could add

subtract multiply divide Branch be

programmed with Punch Cards yes

1830s um it was an amazing machine it

would have been bigger than a locomotive

so I don't know how we ever thought

anybody would build it but it was a good

mental exercise probably one of the

largest Mechanical Devices ever

envisioned by man next

he while he was doing that he had a he

thought he had a better idea for

building the Difference Engine with

fewer parts and he designs Difference

Engine number two in great detail uh it

has only a mere 8,000

parts and he he offers it to the British

government and they politely refuse they

say we've moved on uh Charlie we already

gave you enough money to build 20

locomotives and we didn't produce

anything so that's the end of it Charles

babage during his life never built any

of these machines he said another age

you'll have to judge whether any of them

would have

worked fast forward

1985 130 years later roughly the curator

of London Science Museum Doren sued has

Charles babbage's drawings for

Difference Engine Number Two And he says

I wonder if it will work let's try to

build it and they embark on a similar

Odyssey money time machine shops so that

in 1991 babbage's 200th birthday they

have the calculating set of the part of

the machine built from where Julie is

standing through here where you see

eight registers 31 digigit number

registers vertical registers of numbers

so that you can have seven difference

columns plus the result column but the

most important part of the machine

babage felt was this part down here

which is the printer stereotyp of you

see anybody can do the math for finite

differences and solve the equations but

how does one make sure that after that

you don't make a mistake because if you

write down the answer people sometimes

reverse digits then you give it to a

printer who's using movable type right

very easy to me mess that up so he

wanted to make sure that that didn't

happen this device takes the result from

this register transfers it it to this

printer here you'll see the type Wheels

rotate a little inker comes up puts ink

on the type the paper is brought up to

the printer and prints the answer you

won't see that actually print because we

don't like to mess this thing up with

the ink it works like a printing press

then most importantly this tray down

here would be filled with a plastic

material like plaster of

Paris right after the print cycle

another set of type rotates down

impresses the answer into the plaster

the device the tray is indexed in

waiting for the next answer Etc till the

page is full printer mold is full a

printer takes it pours lead in there has

a printing plate no movable type so he

did everything he possibly could to

avoid error and believe me unless this

machine is broken or jammed up it cannot

produce a wrong answer so now um as I

said by 1991 the Museum had built this

calculating section how are they going

to finish it their PL is scene by an

American entrepreneur named Nathan mirol

he was once the CTO of Microsoft he's uh

running a very interesting company up in

Seattle now uh I noticed they're just

inventing a a laser beam weapon that

zaps uh mosquitoes and carry malaria I'm

not making that up by the way it works

I've seen it you've seen it work okay

it's great so anyway he says I'll tell

you what at London Science Museum I'll

let I'll fund the the you to finish uh

differ this first serial number one but

then I want you to build me a whole

Difference Engine for my private

collection and this machine you see is

Nathan mol's Difference Engine Number

Two completed in March of

2008 and he's letting us keep it here to

show it to you folks for a while I hope

a long while I hope and afterwards we're

going to take it up and stick it in his

living room

right next to the t-rexx skeleton he's

already got so okay um so let's let's

now look again let's crank it I want you

to watch as the addition takes place

we've got this equation set up so in

fact we're using five of the seven

difference columns and you will see the

addition taking place by these big

sector gears in between adding the

numbers from one column by rotating them

back towards zero value transferring

their value to the next column and then

resetting the column to its original

value as it comes down and for that

reason these columns jump up and down go

ahead

Julie you will also

notice you will also notice this

planking sound that is the sound of

these big interlock blades you see that

run completely up and down the column

snapping in because when that when you

don't want those columns to rotate you

don't want them to drift in between two

numbers so that lock comes in locks up

the column resets allat so you have

digits on every column and then you will

see the print cycle happen the type is

going to rotate in a second there's the

rotation print stereotype the tray index

is

in watch the next one come up

here there's a rotational type ink print

stereotype

now when when this tray gets to the end

the column it's automatically programmed

because it will come zipping out rotate

across ready for the next column not

only that there are two of these trays

in here babage wanted two different

sizes for the books or two fonts one

this size and one big um in addition

what happens when this tray is

full JW's way down here you don't want

to overflow this thing right so there's

a little weight dropping down down here

which is pulling on this piece of cat

gut which comes up here across the

machine to a little pole when that tray

fills up it's going to shut off the

Machine by disconnecting her crank you

whe the crank that means you got to come

down here and change this

tray you thought of all these things

okay now we're going to go around the

back and Julie's going to crank it some

more and we can look at one of the more

mesmerizing parts of this machine so

let's let's go around back

how long does it take to learn to to do

this yeah we could could done

this need to be

friendly you can't see it on the Ed okay

let me get out let me get out of the

way go ahead

so what the heck is going on here this

is not a DNA

model he would have really ah Hadad his

time thought of

that the biggest problem in designing

calculators in the 1800s 1800s was how

do you carry when you're an

inning you go past nine on a column

spotting in the right you got to carry

the one those mechanisms were believe it

or not a little difficult to design

because you have to carry all the way

across I remember my odometer sticking

in my car when it got to

99,999 just seemed to be not enough

energy to push them all over the top

what happens in this machine is he was

very clever about managing the energy uh

when when one of the bottom wheels or

less significant wheels goes from nine

back to zero a tab on the wheel uh

energizes a little uh a little mechanism

here and it protrudes

out then at the right part of the cycle

that'll happen up and down the column at

the right part of the cycle we start

from the bottom with these hooks they

come around if that thing is worn saying

I need to be carried the hook engages

the mechanis another mechanism that

pushes the wheel just above it by one

digit if that happens to go through nine

at the time that'll be activated and the

next one will be and right up the column

so if you're a computer person we're

polling the register for

carries right and that's exactly what

happens in fact you could call the carry

warning sort of a primitive flip clot

because we activate it until it's reset

it stays there so we got all these in

addition to use keep on with the

computer paraments he figured out that

it would take too much energy to add all

these columns at one time so he

pipelined the machine so that odds are

added to evens in one part of the cycle

and evens to odds in another part of the

cycle even so the energy jewelie puts

out varies considerably over the cycle

so it takes some talent to keep up that

pace which is very steady cranking

otherwise things jam up on us okay one

more thing you can all turn around and

see this board I think you've all got a

little algebra so you won't it won't

lose you here how does finite

differences work just a quick

illustration of how finite differences

work in solving

equations um here is a simplest I could

think of result equal x^2 + 1 in order

to program that machine what we have to

do is solve these polinomial equations

manually n + one times one more than

this exponent so in this case three

times I got to do it manually so we can

do that together if xal

0 the result is 1 X = 1 the result 1 2 +

1 is 2 2 2 2 is 4 + 1 is five right now

I subtract the first two solutions and

put the difference in difference column

number one the next two subtract

difference column number one then

subtract the two first the first two

differences put it in difference column

number two notice I for a second order

equation I wind up with a a constant in

difference column two for a third order

equation I would wind up with a constant

in three for a fifth order equation I

would wind up with a constant in

difference column five I then take these

numbers with some adjustment because of

this polling and we manually boot them

into the machine there's a process for

us manually turning the wheels setting

them to those initial differences from

now on it's we only have to add to solve

for every sequential value of the

unknown X want the 2 + 3 = 5 5 + 5 =

10 x = 4 2 + 5 is 7 7 and 10 17 it'll

work for any polom

equation so and if you look at the

machine now and can read the numbers

you'll see that difference column number

five remains a constant on the machine

all the other numbers are

changing questions about

that okay so let's go back around front

here

sorry the museum in London always voted

on whether this was gamechanging in

other words is the concept of the

machine wrong or are we just fixing

something that engineer Charles babage

and his excellent machinist would have

said well that's obviously wrong we got

fix that so that's that's the way some

of these fixes got made uh some of them

were fairly large some of them small one

of the most obvious is Charles babage

envisioned cranking this from this Big

Top Gear meaning that one revolution of

the crank would give us one answer

unfortunately Julie hasn't the strength

to propel the machine from there and

neither did anybody at the Museum so

they put a 4 to1 reduction gear in here

that's why we have to do four

Revolutions of the crank

to get an answer four Revolutions of the

crank 8 seconds uh for four revolutions

if anybody wants to calculate M millions

of floating Point operations per second

from

that uh so

uh so there are several of those little

things in the

machine the other qu thing I'd like to

just mention before we we finish is

what's the impact of Charles babbage's

machines on Computing history that's I

we're in business here in this Museum

and um there's a lot of dispute about

that lots of books about Charles babage

and his influence U my view is after

reading some of them that it's not huge

because and you can relate to this I

think he was so far ahead of his time

with this and he never built the

machine so people did not did not build

on that technology much later in the

century others knew knew that these

machines could be made and kind of

started took off on it but that really

lessened his influence on History

however he did have a young female

Protegé by the name of aah

Lovelace aah was the daughter of Lord

Byron the poet but her mother didn't

want her to be a poet and shoved her

into Math and Science very unusual and

she really was enamored with uh

babbage's uh ideas not with babage by

the way so but she was very out with his

project and she at one point wrote a

paper commenting on a French paper where

she and she said Gee I realize that

these are only numbers on these machines

but that number could represent a

character in the alphabet as well as it

can represent a number or could

represent a

symbol and I've envisioned that we'll be

able to program these various devices to

manipulate symbols characters and words

so there was a little vision there uh

but but otherwise it took way into the

later part of the century for people to

start building reasonably priced smaller

calculating Machines of

course so we're going to crank it once

more and then we'll be hanging around

here if you guys have any questions just

so you can take it all in now that you

know how it works and see what's

happening

n

[Music]