Charles Babbage and the engines of perfection / Bruce Collier and James MacLachlan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Collier, Bruce, author.

Contributor:

MacLachlan, James H., 1928-

Series:

Oxford portraits in science.

Oxford portraits in science

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Babbage, Charles, 1791-1871.

Babbage, Charles.

Mathematicians--England--Biography.

Mathematicians.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (123 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York ; Oxford : Oxford University Press, [1998]

Summary:

Charles Babbage, the grandfather of the modern computer, did not live to see even one of his calculating machines at work. A dazzling genius with vision extending far beyond the limitations of the Victorian age, Babbage successfully calculated a table of logarithms during his years at Cambridge University, allowing mathematical calculations to be executed with extreme precision. Only the possibility of human error prevented complete accuracy, and Babbage understood that the only way to attain perfection is to leave the human mind entirely out of the equation. He devoted most of his life and spent most of his private fortune and government stipend trying to improve his difference engines and analytical engines. Bruce Collier and James MacLachlan chronicle Babbage's education and scientific career, his remarkably active social life and long string of personal tragedies, his forays into philosophy and economics, his successes and failures, and the biggest disappointment of his life-- his ingenious inventions were centuries ahead of the primitive capabilities of Victorian technology. Oxford Portraits in Science is an on-going series of scientific biographies for young adults. Written by top scholars and writers, each biography examines the personality of its subject as well as the thought process leading to his or her discoveries. These illustrated biographies combine accessible technical information with compelling personal stories to portray the scientists whose work has shaped our understanding of the natural world.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Chapter 1: The Making of a Mathematician

Chapter 2: In Scientific Circles

Sidebar: Logarithms Explained

Chapter 3: Inventing the Difference Engine

Sidebar: Differences in Sequences of Numbers

Sidebar: Early Mechanical Calculators

Chapter 4: Reform Is in the Air

Sidebar: The Operation of the Jacquard Loom

Chapter 5: Inventing the Analytic Engine

Chapter 6: Passages in a Philosopher's Life

Chapter 7: After Babbage

Museums and Web Sites Related to Charles Babbage

Chronology

Further Reading

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-028235-5

0-19-802508-4

OCLC:

958512685