The father of computing: Charles Babbage

What would we do without computers, Facebook, Bebo, Messenger and eBay to name just a few? Computers, and everything linked to them have become a way of life. So next time you sit down to send an e-mail, or get out your laptop, spare a thought for the man to whom we owe so much.

Charles Babbage was born in London,England in December 1791 and went on to become a philosopher, mathematician, inventor and mechanical engineer in his diverse lifetime.  However he is probably best remembered for inventing the first mechanical computer which later, directly led to more complex designs.

In his early years, Charles lived with his family in Teignmouth in Devon.  His parents Betsy Plumleigh Teape and Benjamin Babbage were determined that the young Charles would have a good education. His father, a banker and later Church Warden, earned enough money to give his son a good start in life.

At the age of eight, and recovering from a severe illness, Charles was sent to a school in Alphington near Exeter. He later attended the King Edward VI Grammar School in Totnes. At this time, due to his poor health his parents ordered that his “brain was not to be taxed too much!” Later Charles joked that this had made him lazy!

After several years of intensive study with private tutors, he developed a love of mathematics. This, with his knowledge of the classics earned him a place at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1810. When in 1812 he transferred to Peterhouse, Cambridge, he held the title of top mathematician!

In July 1814 in Teignmouth, Devon, Charles married Georgiana Whitmore. They later made their home in London. Sadly, of their eight children only three survived to become adults.  Indeed, in one dreadful year, 1827, when Charles’ father, wife and son all died, Charles understandably went into mental breakdown.

His youngest son “Henry Prevost Babbage” carried on the family tradition and created six engines based on his father’s designs.

In his remarkable lifetime Charles Babbage won the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society “for his invention of an engine for calculating mathematical and astronomical tables.”  He also twice stood for Parliament as a candidate for the borough of Finsbury in London.

 His eccentricities were a part of his unique character. He once counted all the broken panes of glass of a factory. In 1857 he published a “Table of the Relative Frequency of the Causes of Breakage of Plate Glass Windows”. Of 464 broken panes, 14 were caused by “drunken men, women or boys”!
He also hated street music, especially organ grinders.

In October 1871, Charles Babbage died at the age of 79 and is buried in Kensal Green, London.

His brain is preserved at London’s Science Museum.  NW