As you might expect from its name, the "Difference Engine" is a strangely difficult object to describe. You might start by imagining the side of a large crib with uprights ringed by small metal wheels ...

Englishman Charles Babbage (1791–1871), an eccentric, ingenious mathematician, decided that existing tables of computations included far too many errors: the day's textbooks came with errata sheets ...

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. This is a replica of the portion of a ...

Charles Babbage 17911871 computer pioneer designed the first automatic computing engines He invented computers but failed to build them The first complete Babbage Engine was completed in London in ...

"The machine works exactly as Babbage intended. There's not a single logical design flaw in the entire design," says its builder Doron Swade. And 248 gears of iron, brass and steel. The first digital ...

The blueprint for a tiny, ultra-robust mechanical computer has been outlined by US researchers. The energy-efficient nano computer is inspired by ideas about computing first put forward nearly 200 ...

The 19th-century Analytical Engine computer, complete with CPU and a memory, remained unbuilt – time to put that right, says John Graham-Cumming IN 1837 British mathematician Charles Babbage described ...

This article was taken from the May 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by ...

For many of us, the computer is the symbol of our hypermodernity, the image of how vastly we differ--culturally, economically, socially and politically--from past generations. And many of us think of ...