Charles Babbage's Story

This lecture tells the story of Charles Babbage, a British mathematician born in 1791, who was tasked with calculating star positions to prevent maritime accidents. Babbage proposed building a 'difference engine' to automate these calculations, but faced challenges due to the precision required for its parts. He then envisioned a more versatile 'analytical engine' capable of executing various algorithms, but failed to secure funding. Despite this, Babbage's idea paved the way for the first computer, which was eventually built a century later and is now displayed at the Computer Science Museum in London.