2 posts and columns on Charles Babbage

The Steam-Punk Dream Computer: Watch the Babbage Difference Engine in Action

in News on December 4, 2010 at 6:00 am PT

Here’s a very special something for the steam-geeks out there: Video of the famed Babbage Difference Engine, widely regarded as the first complex mechanical computer. There are only two in the world, and we captured one in action.

Geek Alert: Babbage Difference Engine at the Computer History Museum!

in News on May 13, 2008 at 5:54 am PT

For those who love a five-ton mechanical computing device, Silicon Valley’s Computer History Museum recently installed a Babbage Difference Engine. Designed on paper by English inventor and mathematician Charles Babbage (pictured here with his creation) and built to his specifications, it is on loan for one year from former Microsoft tech guru Nathan Myhrvold.
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