Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace

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Charles Babbage Charles Babbage was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor, and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer. He is considered “father of the computer” because he invented the first mechanical computer in 1891. Babbage also made several prototypes of different, more updated versions of his model and the latest of his prototypes was actually constructed in 1991. This can be found on display in London Science Museum along with his other unfinished parts of the very first computers. Babbage was inspired to start computerising one day in 1812. He was in a room looking at some logarithms that he knew to be wrong. He thought how much simpler it would be to computerise and sort them, and that was his first step towards inventing computers although he never envisioned they would go as far as they are today. Ada Lovelace Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, born Augusta Ada Byron, is now more commonly known as Ada Lovelace. She was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on one of Charles Babbage’s early inventions, a mechanical general-purpose computer called the Analytical Engine. Her notes on the engine include the first algorithms and for this reason is she seen as the world’s first computer programmer. Between 1842 and 1843 Lovelace worked on some of Babbage’s work and translated Italian notes that were simply called Notes. These notes are seen today as the first algorithms of computer programming and are very important for knowing the history of the first computer. Lovelace is especially famous because she envisioned that computers could go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching while others, including Babbage
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