2022 is a double anniversary: 200 years since Charles Babbage announced the invention of his Difference Engine, the first successful design for an automatic computing machine, and 20 years since the completion of the first Babbage Engine built to original 19th-century designs.
We’re celebrating with the launch of a brand-new exhibition that tests your knowledge of this famous inventor, and a talk by Babbage expert Doron Swade.
In this presentation Doron will describe the controversies, rivalries and challenges that faced the first computer pioneer in his attempts, in the 19th century, to mechanise calculation, and how he was led from this to general purpose computing.
He will describe the construction of Difference Engine No. 2, designed in the late 1840s, and completed at the Science Museum in 2002. The machine consists of 8,000 parts, weighs five tonnes, and took 17 years to realise.
He will discuss the Analytical Engine and Babbage’s collaboration with Ada Lovelace, and offer correctives to received perceptions of Babbage’s motives, his influence on modern computing, Lovelace’s role, and why Babbage himself failed to construct an engine.
In the endless pursuit of computational speed Babbage observed that each invention was superseded by another. In 1837 he wondered how close to the limits he had got. ‘Another age must be the judge’ he wrote. Well, here we are.
About the speaker
Doron Swade is an engineer, historian, and museum professional. He is a leading authority on Babbage’s life and work, and masterminded the construction of Difference Engine No. 2. He has published widely on Babbage, history of computing, and museology. His books include The Cogwheel Brain (2000) and The History of Computing: A Very Short Introduction (2022).
Event details:
10:30: - 12:50: Attendees to arrive at the Museum, exploring the galleries and enjoy refreshments and networking.
13:00 - 14:00: Exhibition officially opens, attendees to explore the exhibition.
14:15 - 15:15: Myths and misconceptions of Charles Babbage - lecture by Doron Swade followed by Q&A.
15:15 - 17:00: Official event ends - attendees invited to explore the Museum.
