Charles Babbage ( / ˈ b æ b ɪ dʒ / ; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English expert in many fields. He was a mathematician, philosopher, inventor, and mechanical engineer. Babbage created the idea of a digital computer that could be programmed.

Some people call Babbage the "father of the computer." He designed the first mechanical computer, called the difference engine, which helped lead to later electronic computers. His analytical engine, which could be programmed using a method inspired by the Jacquard loom, included all the basic ideas of modern computers. He also created the first computer printers. In addition to computers, Babbage wrote about other topics, such as manufacturing and machinery, in his 1832 book Economy of Manufactures and Machinery. He was a well-known person in London and brought the tradition of "scientific soirées" from France to England, holding popular Saturday evening gatherings. His work in many areas made him a highly respected figure among polymaths of his time.

Babbage died before completing many of his designs, including the Difference Engine and Analytical Engine. However, parts of his unfinished machines are displayed at the Science Museum in London. In 1991, a working version of the difference engine was built using Babbage's original plans. The engine was made with the precision possible in the 19th century, proving that his design would have worked if completed.

Early life

Charles Babbage's birthplace is not certain, but the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography suggests he was likely born at 44 Crosby Row, Walworth Road, London, England. A blue plaque at the corner of Larcom Street and Walworth Road marks this location.

His birth date is debated. The Times obituary listed 26 December 1792, but a later letter from his nephew claimed he was born in 1791. Church records from St. Mary's in Newington, London, show he was baptised on 6 January 1792, which supports the 1791 birth year.

Babbage was one of four children born to Benjamin Babbage and Betsy Plumleigh Teape. His father was a banking partner in Praed's & Co., a company founded in London in 1801. In 1808, the Babbage family moved to the Rowdens house in East Teignmouth. At about age eight, Babbage attended a school in Alphington near Exeter to recover from a serious illness. He briefly studied at King Edward VI Grammar School in Totnes but returned home for private lessons due to health issues.

Later, Babbage enrolled at Holmwood Academy in Enfield, Middlesex, where he studied with 30 students. The school's library helped develop his interest in mathematics. After leaving the academy, he studied with two private teachers. His first tutor was a clergyman near Cambridge, through whom he met Charles Simeon and his followers, but the lessons did not meet his needs. He then returned to Totnes school at age 16 or 17. His second tutor, from Oxford, helped him achieve enough knowledge in Classics to gain admission to the University of Cambridge.

At the University of Cambridge

Charles Babbage arrived at Trinity College, Cambridge, in October 1810. He had already learned many advanced math topics on his own, including works by Robert Woodhouse, Joseph Louis Lagrange, and Maria Gaetana Agnesi. He was not satisfied with the math classes offered at the university because they did not match his level of knowledge.

In 1812, Babbage and his friends John Herschel and George Peacock formed a group called the Analytical Society. They were also close to Edward Ryan. While studying, Babbage joined other groups, such as The Ghost Club, which studied supernatural events, and the Extractors Club, which aimed to help members avoid being sent to mental hospitals if needed.

In 1812, Babbage moved to Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was the best math student there but did not graduate with special recognition. Instead, he received a degree in 1814 without taking final exams. His thesis was criticized as offensive during a public debate, but it is unclear if this influenced his decision not to take the exams.

After Cambridge

Charles Babbage quickly gained recognition for his work. In 1815, he gave lectures on astronomy at the Royal Institution, and in 1816, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society. After finishing his studies, he applied for several jobs but was not successful. In 1816, he tried to become a teacher at Haileybury College, with support from James Ivory and John Playfair, but the position went to Henry Walter. In 1819, Babbage and Herschel traveled to Paris to meet French scientists. That same year, Babbage applied for a professorship at the University of Edinburgh, with support from Pierre Simon Laplace, but the job was given to William Wallace.

Working with Herschel, Babbage studied the movement of electricity in Arago’s rotations and published findings in 1825. Their work was later expanded by Michael Faraday. These discoveries are now part of the theory of eddy currents. Babbage and Herschel did not fully understand the connection between electricity and magnetism, which was later explained by others.

Babbage bought the actuarial tables left behind by George Barrett, who died in 1821. In 1826, Babbage wrote a report comparing different insurance systems in Comparative View of the Various Institutions for the Assurance of Lives. This interest began with a plan to start an insurance company, suggested by Francis Baily in 1824, though the plan was not carried out. Babbage created actuarial tables for this project using data from the Equitable Society dating back to 1762.

During this time, Babbage relied on his father’s financial support because of his father’s disapproval of his early marriage in 1814, when he and Edward Ryan married the Whitmore sisters. Babbage lived in London and raised a large family. After his father died in 1827, Babbage inherited a large estate worth about £100,000 (equivalent to £9.14 million or $12.5 million today), making him financially independent. After his wife’s death in the same year, Babbage traveled. In Italy, he met Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, which led to a later visit to Piedmont. In April 1828, while in Rome, Babbage learned he had been named a professor at Cambridge, a position he had previously tried to obtain in 1820, 1823, and 1826.

Babbage helped start the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820, originally called the Astronomical Society of London. Its goal was to standardize astronomical calculations and share data. These efforts connected to Babbage’s ideas about computation. In 1824, Babbage received the society’s Gold Medal for inventing a machine to calculate mathematical and astronomical tables.

Babbage’s idea to use machines to avoid errors in tables was discussed by Dionysius Lardner in 1834 in the Edinburgh Review (with Babbage’s guidance). The background of these developments is still debated. Babbage’s own account of the difference engine began when the Astronomical Society wanted to improve The Nautical Almanac. Babbage and Herschel were asked to test part of the tables, and they found errors. This happened in 1821 or 1822, which led Babbage to develop his idea for mechanical computation. The issue with The Nautical Almanac is now linked to a split in British science after the death of Sir Joseph Banks in 1820.

Babbage worked with Thomas Frederick Colby to improve the postal system, suggesting a uniform rate. This idea was later used in the Uniform Fourpenny Post, which was replaced by the Uniform Penny Post in 1839 and 1840. Colby was also involved in the Survey of Ireland. Babbage and Herschel were present during a key survey operation, the remeasuring of the Lough Foyle baseline.

The Analytical Society began as a student-led project but later made important contributions. In 1816, Babbage, Herschel, and Peacock translated lectures by Sylvestre Lacroix, a leading calculus textbook at the time.

References to Lagrange in calculus relate to formal power series, which British mathematicians used from the 1730s to 1760s. These series were later used in functional equations and methods for solving differential equations. The difference between difference and differential equations was symbolized by changing Δ to D, representing a shift from finite to infinitesimal differences. These methods became popular in operational calculus but eventually reached a point of diminishing returns. The concept of limits, introduced by Cauchy, was not widely adopted. Woodhouse started a second "British Lagrangian School" by treating Taylor series formally.

In this context, function composition is complex because the chain rule does not apply simply to higher-order derivatives. This was known to Woodhouse by 1803, who used a method later called Faà di Bruno’s formula, originally developed by Louis François Antoine Arbogast. Abraham De Moivre had also understood this idea in 1697. Herschel found this method impressive, and Babbage was aware of it. Ada Lovelace later noted its compatibility with the analytical engine. Before 1820, Babbage focused on functional equations, avoiding traditional finite differences and Arbogast’s approach. Through Herschel, Babbage studied Arbogast’s ideas on function iteration, or composing a function with itself. In a major paper on functional equations published in the Philosophical Transactions (1815/6), Babbage mentioned his work was inspired by Gaspard Monge.

Academic

From 1828 to 1839, Charles Babbage held the position of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. He was not a typical resident of the university, and he did not focus much on teaching. During this time, he wrote three books on important topics. In 1832, he was honored as a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Babbage did not get along well with some of his colleagues. George Biddell Airy, who had previously held the Lucasian Professor position, believed that Babbage should have been held accountable for not giving lectures. In 1831, Babbage planned to give a lecture on political economy. He wanted universities to include more people in education, focus more on research, offer a wider range of subjects, and pay more attention to practical applications. However, William Whewell disagreed with these ideas. Babbage had a long disagreement with Richard Jones that lasted six years. Despite his plans, Babbage never gave a lecture.

During this time, Babbage tried to become involved in politics. Simon Schaffer noted that Babbage supported ideas in the 1830s, such as removing the Church of England’s special status, expanding voting rights, and including factory owners in decision-making. He ran for a seat in Parliament twice for the borough of Finsbury. In 1832, he came in third place among five candidates, losing by about 500 votes because two other reformers split the vote. In his memoirs, Babbage wrote that this election brought him a friendship with Samuel Rogers, as Babbage’s brother, Henry Rogers, had wanted to support him but died shortly after. In 1834, Babbage finished last among four candidates. In 1832, Babbage, Herschel, and Ivory were named Knights of the Royal Guelphic Order, but they were not later made knights bachelor, which would have allowed them to use the title "Sir."

Babbage became known as a writer who strongly criticized issues. His book Reflections on the Decline of Science and Some of Its Causes (1830) was especially controversial. It aimed to improve British science and to replace Davies Gilbert as president of the Royal Society, which Babbage wanted to reform. Babbage wrote the book because he was upset when he was not chosen as junior secretary of the Royal Society, a position that went to Herschel instead. Michael Faraday had a response written by Gerrit Moll, titled On the Alleged Decline of Science in England (1831). Babbage’s efforts to influence the Royal Society did not succeed, as the Duke of Sussex was elected president instead of someone Babbage supported. However, Babbage’s book helped lead to the creation of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) in 1831.

In 1831, The Mechanics’ Magazine referred to Babbage’s followers as "Declinarians." It also mentioned David Brewster, who wrote in the Quarterly Review, noting that both Babbage and Brewster had received public funding.

During debates about statistics and data collection, the BAAS’s Statistical Section, which was partly influenced by William Whewell, focused on collecting data. This section was formed in 1833, with Babbage as chairman and John Elliot Drinkwater as secretary. The Statistical Society was later created, with Babbage as its public representative, supported by Richard Jones and Robert Malthus.

Babbage published On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures (1832), which discussed how to organize industrial production. This book was an early example of operational research. In 1846, John Rennie the Younger mentioned Babbage’s work in an article about manufacturing, noting that it had first appeared in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana. Babbage expanded on ideas from his earlier work, An Essay on the General Principles Which Regulate the Application of Machinery to Manufactures and the Mechanical Arts (1827), which became an article in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana in 1829. The book’s first part described a classification of machines, while the second part discussed the economic aspects of manufacturing.

The book was popular and went through four editions by 1836. Babbage claimed his work was based on observations in factories in Britain and abroad. In the first edition, he did not address deeper economic issues, but the second edition, published in late 1832, included three additional chapters, one on piece rate. The book also discussed ideas like rational factory design and profit sharing.

In On the Economy of Machinery, Babbage described what is now called the "Babbage principle," which highlights the benefits of dividing tasks carefully to reduce costs. He noted that this idea had appeared earlier in the work of Melchiorre Gioia in 1815. The term "Babbage principle" was coined in 1974 by Harry Braverman. Other related ideas include the "principle of multiples" by Philip Sargant Florence and the "balance of processes."

Babbage explained that skilled workers often perform tasks that do not fully use their skills. By dividing tasks among workers, factories can save money by assigning complex tasks to highly skilled workers and simpler tasks to less expensive workers. He also argued that standardizing tasks could reduce training costs and increase efficiency, supporting the factory system. His view of human capital focused on minimizing the time needed to recover training costs.

Another part of the book analyzed the costs of book publishing, revealing how profitable the industry was. Babbage criticized the restrictive practices of publishers, and 20 years later, he attended a meeting against the Booksellers Association, which was still a cartel.

It has been said that "what Arthur Young was to agriculture, Charles Babbage was to the factory visit and machinery." Babbage’s ideas influenced the layout of the 1851 Great Exhibition and affected George Julius Poulett Scrope. Karl Marx argued that the productivity of the factory system came from combining the division of labor with machinery, building on ideas from Adam Smith, Babbage, and Andrew Ure. Marx agreed with Babbage that the division of labor was driven by the desire for profit, not just productivity, and noted its impact on trade.

John Ruskin strongly opposed Babbage’s views on manufacturing. Babbage also influenced John Stuart Mill’s

Later life

The British Association was based on the Deutsche Naturforscher-Versammlung, which was created in 1822. It did not support romantic science or metaphysics and worked to separate science from literature and professionals from amateurs. Babbage was part of the "Wattite" group in the British Association, which included James Watt the younger. He closely supported industrialists and wanted to move quickly in the same direction, paying little attention to the more gentlemanly members. He believed that industrial society was the final stage of human development, a view he shared with Herschel. A disagreement with Roderick Murchison in 1838 caused Babbage to stop participating further. At the end of that year, he resigned as Lucasian professor, leaving the Cambridge debate with Whewell. His focus shifted to computation, meteorology, and international connections.

Babbage proposed a project to list all physical constants (called "constants of nature," a new term) and create an encyclopedia of numerical information. He was a pioneer in "absolute measurement," building on the work of Johann Christian Poggendorff. He shared these ideas with Brewster in 1832. His plan included 19 categories of constants, which some, like Ian Hacking, say reflected Babbage's unusual interests. His paper, On Tables of the Constants of Nature and Art, was reprinted in 1856 by the Smithsonian Institution, with a note that Arnold Henry Guyot's physical tables would be part of the project.

Exact measurement was important for developing machine tools. Babbage was a pioneer in this area, along with Henry Maudslay, William Sellers, and Joseph Whitworth.

Through the Royal Society, Babbage became friends with engineer Marc Brunel. Brunel introduced Babbage to Joseph Clement, who helped him study artisans in manufacturing. Babbage introduced Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1830 to connect with the Bristol & Birmingham Railway project. Around 1838, Babbage studied and promoted the use of broad gauge tracks for railways, which Brunel's Great Western Railway used.

In 1838, Babbage invented the pilot (also called a cow-catcher), a metal frame on locomotives that removes obstacles from tracks. He also built a dynamometer car. His eldest son, Benjamin Herschel Babbage, worked as an engineer for Brunel on railways before moving to Australia in the 1850s.

Babbage also invented an ophthalmoscope, which he gave to Thomas Wharton Jones for testing. Jones did not use it, and the device was later independently created by Hermann von Helmholtz.

Babbage made important contributions to cryptography, though this was not widely known for a century after his death. Letter frequency was category 18 of his project to tabulate constants. Joseph Henry later argued that studying letter frequency was useful for managing movable type.

As early as 1845, Babbage solved a cipher challenge set by his nephew, Henry Hollier, and discovered that ciphers using Vigenère tables could be broken using modular arithmetic. During the Crimean War in the 1850s, Babbage cracked Vigenère's autokey cipher and the simpler Vigenère cipher. He planned to write a book, The Philosophy of Deciphering, but never published it. His discovery remained a military secret and was later credited to Friedrich Kasiski, a Prussian officer who made the same discovery later. However, in 1854, Babbage published a solution to a Vigenère cipher that had appeared earlier in the Journal of the Society of Arts. In 1855, he also published a short letter, "Cypher Writing," in the same journal. His role in solving ciphers was not officially recognized until 1985.

Babbage participated in public but controversial campaigns against nuisances. In 1857, he published a table showing that 14 out of 464 broken factory windows were caused by "drunken men, women, or boys."

Babbage disliked common people, especially the "Mob," and wrote "Observations of Street Nuisances" in 1864. He counted 165 "nuisances" over 80 days, particularly hating street music, especially from organ grinders. He wrote, "It is difficult to estimate the misery inflicted upon thousands of persons… by the loss of their time, destroyed by organ-grinders and other similar nuisances."

Babbage was not alone in his efforts. MP Michael Thomas Bass supported his cause.

In the 1860s, Babbage also campaigned against hoop-rolling, blaming it for accidents involving horses. He gained notoriety for this, being criticized in Parliament in 1864 for "commencing a crusade against the popular game of tip-cat and the trundling of hoops."

Computing pioneer

Babbage's machines were among the first mechanical computers. They were not completed mainly due to funding issues and disagreements, especially with George Biddell Airy, the Astronomer Royal.

Babbage directed the building of some steam-powered machines that achieved some success, showing that calculations could be mechanized. For over ten years, he received government funding for his project, totaling £17,000, but eventually, the Treasury lost confidence in him.

Although Babbage's machines were mechanical and bulky, their basic design was similar to modern computers. The data and program memory were separated, operations were based on instructions, the control unit could make conditional jumps, and the machine had a separate input/output unit.

In Babbage's time, printed mathematical tables were calculated by human computers, meaning by hand. These tables were important for navigation, science, engineering, and mathematics. Mistakes often occurred during transcription and calculation.

At Cambridge, Babbage saw the flaws in this process and saw an opportunity to add mechanization. He described a moment in 1812 when he was looking at a table of logarithms, which he knew had errors, and the idea of using machinery to compute tabular functions occurred to him. The French government had used a new method to produce tables, where mathematicians planned the work, others broke it into simple steps, and unskilled workers performed only addition and subtraction. This was the first time mass production was applied to arithmetic, and Babbage realized machinery could replace these workers, making the process faster and more reliable.

Seven years later, Babbage became interested in the problems of computing mathematical tables again. He was familiar with the French initiative by Gaspard de Prony and its challenges. After the Napoleonic Wars ended, scientific contacts were renewed through personal connections, such as Charles Blagden’s visit to Paris in 1819 to investigate the stalled de Prony project and seek support from the Royal Society. In his writings from the 1820s and 1830s, Babbage detailed de Prony’s project.

In 1822, Babbage began work on what he called the difference engine, designed to compute values of polynomial functions automatically. Using the method of finite differences, it avoided the need for multiplication and division.

To build a prototype difference engine, Babbage hired Joseph Clement in 1823. Clement worked to high standards, but his tools were very complex. At the time, he could charge for their construction and own them. He and Babbage had a disagreement over costs around 1831.

Some parts of the prototype are preserved in the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford. This prototype evolved into the "first difference engine," which remained unfinished. The completed portion is displayed at the Science Museum in London. The first difference engine would have had about 25,000 parts, weighed fifteen short tons (13,600 kg), and stood 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall. Despite receiving funding, it was never completed. Later, between 1847 and 1849, Babbage created detailed plans for an improved version, "Difference Engine No. 2," but the British government did not fund it. His design was finally built in 1989–1991 using 19th-century manufacturing methods. It performed its first calculation at the Science Museum, returning results accurate to 31 digits.

In 2000, the Science Museum completed the printer Babbage designed for the difference engine. His printers were the first computer printers ever invented.

The Science Museum has constructed two Difference Engines based on Babbage’s plans for the Difference Engine No. 2. One is owned by the museum, and the other, owned by Nathan Myhrvold, a technology investor, was displayed at the Computer History Museum in California in 2008. These models are not replicas.

After the first difference engine project failed, Babbage worked on designing a more complex machine called the Analytical Engine. He hired C. G. Jarvis, who had previously worked with Clement as a draughtsman. The Analytical Engine marked the shift from mechanized arithmetic to general-purpose computation. Babbage’s reputation as a computer pioneer is largely based on this machine.

A major innovation of the Analytical Engine was its use of punched cards for programming. It was intended to use loops of Jacquard’s punched cards to control a mechanical calculator, which could use results from previous computations as input. The machine also included features used in modern computers, such as sequential control, branching, and looping. It would have been the first mechanical device capable of being Turing-complete. Babbage wrote programs for the Analytical Engine between 1837 and 1840, with the first program completed in 1837. The Analytical Engine was not a single machine but a series of designs Babbage refined until his death in 1871.

Ada Lovelace, who corresponded with Babbage during the development of the Analytical Engine, is credited with creating an algorithm to calculate Bernoulli numbers for the Engine. Though some scholars question how much of the idea was Lovelace’s own, she is often called the first computer programmer, even though no programming language existed at the time.

Lovelace also translated and wrote about the project. She compared the Engine’s use of punched cards to the Jacquard loom weaving patterns, writing, “We may say most aptly that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves.”

In 1840, Babbage visited Turin at the invitation of Giovanni Plana, who had developed an analog computing machine in 1831. There, Babbage gave the only public explanation and lectures about the Analytical Engine. In 1842, Charles Wheatstone asked Lovelace to translate a paper by Luigi Menabrea, who had

Family

On July 25, 1814, Babbage married Georgiana Whitmore, the sister of British parliamentarian William Wolryche-Whitmore, at St. Michael's Church in Teignmouth, Devon. The couple lived at Dudmaston Hall in Shropshire, where Babbage designed the central heating system, before moving to 5 Devonshire Street in London in 1815.

Charles and Georgiana had eight children, but only four—Benjamin Herschel, Georgiana Whitmore, Dugald Bromhead, and Henry Prevost—lived to adulthood. Charles’ wife, Georgiana, died in Worcester on September 1, 1827, the same year as his father, their second son (also named Charles), and their newborn son, Alexander.

His youngest surviving son, Henry Prevost Babbage (1824–1918), made six small models of Difference Engine No. 1 using his father’s plans. One of these models was sent to Harvard University, where it was later discovered by Howard H. Aiken, who helped develop the Harvard Mark I. Henry Prevost’s 1910 Analytical Engine Mill, which was once displayed at Dudmaston Hall, is now on display at the Science Museum.

Death

Charles Babbage lived and worked for more than 40 years at 1 Dorset Street, Marylebone. He died there on October 18, 1871, at the age of 79. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery in London. According to Horsley, Babbage died from kidney problems caused by a bladder infection. He refused to accept a knighthood or a baronetcy. He also opposed inherited titles, preferring titles that were given for life instead.

In 1983, an autopsy report about Charles Babbage was found and later published by his great-great-grandson. A copy of the original report is also available. One half of Babbage’s brain is kept at the Hunterian Museum in London. The other half is displayed at the Science Museum in London.

Memorials

A black plaque at 1 Dorset Street, London, honors the 40 years Charles Babbage spent there. Places, schools, buildings, and other things named after Babbage include:

In fiction and film

Charles Babbage is often seen in steampunk stories. He is considered an important figure in this genre. Other stories and books that feature Babbage are: