Ever wondered who Invented the first Modern Computer?

Difference Engine No. 1

Charles Babbage began designing the Difference Engine Number 1 in 1821, after he was getting fed up with finding mistakes in his mathematics books. The design describes a machine to calculate a series of values and print results automatically in a table.

Difference Engine No. 2

Charles Babbage designed the Difference Engine No. 2 between 1846 and 1848 but never constructed it.

During the 1980s, Professor Bromley, at the University of Sydney constructed the Difference Engine Number 2 and proved Charles Babbage's design correct.

The Original Plans for the Difference Engine No. 2

Charles Babbage _{(1791 - 1871)}

Charles Babbage is the person who invented the modern computer. Without him we wouldn't have computers. He lived and worked during the Georgian and Victorian eras.

Because he was an Astronomer as well as a Mathematician, he was frustrated with the inaccuracies of the mathematical tables used in astronomy and thought a machine would eliminate these inaccuracies.

The Difference Engines were mostly calculators so without Charles Babbage's Invention we can't check maths very well and we would be writing on

paper instead of typing a lot. Charles Babbage is known by some people to be the "father of computers".

Charles Babbage Begins work on the Analytical Engine in 1833. The Analytical Engine  was a mechanical general-purpose computer and was programmed by punched cards.

Charles Babbage never lived to see the Difference Engine Number 2 or the Analytical Engine because he had insufficient funding and had arguments with the Astronomer Royal.

The Analytical Engine

Most of us today rely on Modern Computers for learning, business and pleasure.

By Stephen Horvath