Talk:Charles Babbage

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Contents

[edit] Quote

Here's a wonderful Babbage quote that you may want to work in to the article somehow:

On two occasions I have been asked, "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.

A google search will turn up zillions of hits on this, with several variants and almost no citations. My quotes.txt has a reference to http://www.hexatron.com/Bab/, which previously linked some good source material on this, but the page seems to be gone now. I posted a summary of what was once there to talk.origins, and you can see it on dejagoogle.

-- B.Bryant


Should this article be turned into one concise article? Instead of 3? --User:Dgrant

Yes, definitely the articles should be merged. AxelBoldt 22:09 Mar 2, 2003 (UTC)

Okay, whoever decides to merge these, leave a note here... and I will do likewise. To prevent duplication of work. --Dave

Arno seems to have done a very good job of merging them. AxelBoldt 17:17 Mar 7, 2003 (UTC)

Good work User:Arno! This article finally looks nice and clean.
Why, thank you, I'm blushing!! Arno

I just noticed there are a lot one line paragraphs in this article. Is it possible that someone could merge them? I'd rather someone else do it then me, since I don't know much about Babbage. --dave

[edit] date and place of birth

It seems that there is quite a confusion regarding place and date of birth. Many resources are giving 26th December in 1791 many 26th December in 1792. Also place of birth is sometimes London and sometimes Teignmouth. However, I also found a source saying that the right date is 6th January 1792. Any clues? --Maros 23:16, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

Chambers, Biographical Dictionary, puts his birth at 1792, place of birth "Totnes, Devon" (p. 71)

Yes I have found this same problem. Anyone who can, please check this site: Charles Babbage Biography and verify the information.

[edit] Babbage vs DE and AE articles

There is more detail about the difference engine and analytical engine in this main article than there is in the individual articles for them. I think the bulk of the project details (he hired so-and-so, he took a break to tour Europe, he quarrelled with so-and-so) all belong in the sub-articles. Right Now the Article shows a wrong death date... maybe you can verify that too...

--Tysto 2005 July 9 18:41 (UTC)

[edit] Marriage & Children

How is it that his last child was born (1829) two years past his wife's death(1827)? Is there an error or missing data (e.g. 2nd wife, mistress, incest)? Dave Adams 15:04, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

Most sources give the number of children as eight. It looks like the imposter is 'Timothy Grant Babbage' added by User:170.235.204.26 on the 13th Sep (diff). I've reverted the edits. If anyone has a source to the contrary, please add to this discussion and restore young master Tim to the list of offspring. -- Solipsist 18:46, 21 November 2005 (UTC)

Am new here so I am adding this snippet of info. On the 1851 England Census, Charles Babbage had re-married a woman with the name of Susan, unfortunately I have not found her surname from marriage records and he was once again a widow by the time the 1861 census came round. I will try and find a surname to go with the name but it didn't seem appropriate to edit the main article which would only give a surname a vague year of birth and a possible place of birth. However on the 1871 census his son; Henry, was living with him and he was a Lieutenant Colonel, again not a great edal of info but I thought I would share it. Piltdown Man 23:08, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

The Charles Babbage, living in 1851 Chudleigh with his wife Susan and son Henry, was a Master Mason, born in Chudleigh, and so is not the subject of this article... Having said that, I can't find the real Charles Babbage in 1851. Ian Cairns 08:10, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Difference Engine No. 2

"Difference Engine No. 2", which was built in 1989-1991" Are those date correct? should't they be 1889 or something? Zaurus

No. It was built within the last two decades from Babbage's original plans. See Difference engine. DanielCristofani 03:54, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

Here is an explanation of those cards written by Babbage himself in Life of a Philosopher: “This machine was also intended to employ several features subsequently used in modern computers, including sequential control, branching, and looping.” Not a bad call for someone who died in 1871. --Paul 07:43, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

Didn't Electronics Boutique used to be called Babbage's many years ago, in honour of Charles Babbage? I distinctly remember purchasing a copy of Civilisation II from a store called Babbages (which was part of a chain) when I was on holiday in the US in the mid-90s (1995, I think). Anyone know anything about this, or is my memory playing tricks on me? - Commander Zulu

[edit] Tables

I understood Babage built a device for calculating tables of interest payments, etc. used in banks. Is this true or do I have my facts mixed?

The original and primary purpose for his machines was to automatically calculate and print the huge tables of constants used in navigation and mathematics and astronomy and, yeah, banking. Because the hand-calculated ones that were then in use had many errors in them. He went so far as to devise a scheme for automatically printing a papier-mache type mold which could be used for directly casting the metal printing plates, to prevent transcription errors. But as far as I know, he never completed a full machine, only proof-of-concept working sections. Anyone know otherwise? DanielCristofani 17:22, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cultural depictions of Charles Babbage

I've started an approach that may apply to Wikipedia's Core Biography articles: creating a branching list page based on in popular culture information. I started that last year while I raised Joan of Arc to featured article when I created Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc, which has become a featured list. Recently I also created Cultural depictions of Alexander the Great out of material that had been deleted from the biography article. Since cultural references sometimes get deleted without discussion, I'd like to suggest this approach as a model for the editors here. Regards, Durova 18:54, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Inventions

Has anyone got more detail about Babbages other inventions besides the calculating engines. They are always mentioned in passing, but I've seen no detailed descriptions, no pictures, no patent references. Anyone have access to primary Babbage references? --AGoon 09:30, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

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