What's This?

Actually, it’s something called a "difference engine."

A model of one was presented today, June 14, back in 1822 to the Royal Astronomical Society.

In an accompanying paper, the inventer of the difference engine, Charles Babbage, explained how it worked and provided plans.

The Royal Society was impressed and agreed to underwrite Babbage’s attempt to build a genuine difference engine (rather than just a model).

Unfortunately, a variety of problems (including personal ones) hampered Babbage from doing this, and he was never able to complete the project. The one you see above was constructed by his son from parts in his workshop.

Now.

Why am I telling you all this?

Because Babbage’s difference engine was the ancestor of the machine you are using right now: the computer.

The difference engine was designed to automatically compute mathematical and astronomical tables (hence the Royal Astronomical Society’s interest in it). Babbage later revised his plans in an attempt to come up with a more powerful machine he called an "analytical engine" (a.k.a. "Difference Engine No. 2").

Though these machines were nothing compared to the computer you’re using at the moment, they still represented a fundamental technological shift that has changed the course of human civilization.

LEARN MORE ABOUT BABBAGE . . .

. . . AND HIS MARVELOUS CONTRAPTION.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

6 thoughts on “What's This?”

  2. Too bad he went with the Motorola gears instead of the Intel sprockets. It was doomed from the start.

  4. IIRC, two things held this back: the cost of the machine tools to make it (yes, the modern versions worked, but were made with CNC mills) and that Babbage conceived of these only using Base 10, making them VASTLY harder to use and program. Had he had the flash of insight to use Base 2, well, the world would likely be a very different (if you’ll excuse the pun) place.

  5. One of my favorite quotes:

    “On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!], `Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?’ I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.”

    — Charles Babbage

  6. William Gibson and Bruce Sterling wrote a book called ‘The Difference Engine.’ It’s an imaginary history, set back in the late 1800s (I think) written under the premise that Babbage was successful, and that the computer evolution occurred at the same time as the industrial revolution.

    Very interesting premise, I think, though I found it too tedious to finish But then again, I tried reading it when I was in high school, and I didn’t have the greatest attention span back then. Maybe it’s worth checking out again.

    Amazon Link to ‘The Difference Engine’

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