1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:18,640 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:22,479 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech. And many years ago, 5 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:26,080 Speaker 1: when tech Stuff was in a very different format, ours 6 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 1: show talked a bit about Charles Babbage and his various 7 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 1: engines that his devices intended to perform different mathematical processes. 8 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:39,599 Speaker 1: We also did an episode about Ada Lovelace, the Enchantress 9 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:43,160 Speaker 1: of Numbers. But the show was so different back then 10 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:45,319 Speaker 1: that I thought it might be good to do some 11 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 1: thorough examinations of who these people were and the contributions 12 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: they made to technology in general and arguably computing in particular. 13 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: And they are all the more remarkable, and that those 14 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: contributions all took place in the early to mid nineteenth century, 15 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,959 Speaker 1: nearly one hundred years before we would get the first programmable, 16 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: electronic and general purpose computer. But we've got a lot 17 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: of ground to cover before we get there, so let 18 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: us begin with the life and accomplishments of one Charles Babbage. 19 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: Charles Babbage was born on December twenty six see although 20 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:30,839 Speaker 1: his obituary said it was sevento Spoiler alert, I guess 21 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 1: Babbage is not alive anymore. He was remarkable, but he 22 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: was not an immortal anyway. There's a record of his 23 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: baptism that actually dates back to January seventeen two, so 24 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: unless he was baptized nearly a full year before he 25 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: was born, I think it is probably safe to say 26 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 1: that the seventeen nine one date is the correct one. 27 00:01:56,320 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: His grandfather was Benjamin Babbage Sr. Who was a man 28 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: of some standing in Tautness, a market town in Devonshire itself, 29 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,400 Speaker 1: a region in the southwest of England. It's a port town. 30 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 1: It's about the same distance from Exeter as it is 31 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: from Plymouth, and Plymouth might be the first location that 32 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: my fellow Americans recognize. Benny Sr. Served as mayor of 33 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 1: Tautness for a year, indicating that he must have been 34 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: at least a little bit important in that town. His son, 35 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: Benji Jr. Would become a goldsmith and a tradesman, and 36 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 1: later on a banker. Junior was a bit of a 37 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: career man, which is putting it lightly. He was someone 38 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:41,239 Speaker 1: who apparently did not have time for the other aspects 39 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 1: of life. As he was in his late thirties when 40 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: he married Elizabeth Betsy plumy Teep, who came from a 41 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:53,519 Speaker 1: likewise prominent family in Devonshire. They were married in seventeen nine. 42 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: Benjamin Babbage Jr. And Betsy moved from Devonshire to London, 43 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: where Benny secured a position at the bitten Estate banking firm. 44 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: The following year, Charles Babbage was born. His father continued 45 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,080 Speaker 1: to rise in the ranks of the banking industry, becoming 46 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: junior partner of the banking house of Prad Digby Box 47 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:19,839 Speaker 1: Babbage and Company, though most people referred to it as 48 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 1: Pratt and Company for the sake of Brevity, which, as 49 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 1: we know, is the soul of wit. The bank was 50 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:29,639 Speaker 1: on Fleet Street, where there was also a barber of 51 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: some renown, but that's a tale for a different time. 52 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: Swing your razor high Sweeney. His family was religious, adhering 53 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:43,720 Speaker 1: to the Anglican faith, and Charles would also become a 54 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: religious man. He had two brothers, who sadly did not 55 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,160 Speaker 1: survive infancy. He also had a sister named Mary Ann, 56 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: who was seven years younger than he and would be 57 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: one of his close friends as he was growing up. 58 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: His early education came from private tutors, but Charles was 59 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: also plagued with health problems described as violent fevers, and 60 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 1: his parents worried that the realities of living in London 61 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 1: at the dawn of the nineteenth century remember this is 62 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,360 Speaker 1: in the middle of the Industrial Revolution, that maybe all 63 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: that was a little too taxing on young Chuck. So 64 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: they decided that he should be sent off to attend 65 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 1: school in a rural schoolhouse in the countryside, far from 66 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: the noise and pollution of the city, and they hoped 67 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: that there his health would be able to improve. So 68 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: in eighteen oh three, Ben Jr. Relocated his family back 69 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:43,159 Speaker 1: to Devon and Charles would move his studies to a 70 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 1: village named Alphington outside of Exeter. His school consisted of 71 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:52,960 Speaker 1: six students, including Charles. Their teacher was a member of 72 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: the local clergy. Charles health did improve and his curiosity 73 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: became one of his defining traits. He was keenly interested 74 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: in puzzles and ciphers and clockwork devices. And this again 75 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: was in the early eighteen hundreds. England's Industrial Revolution was 76 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: in full swing, so this was an era of innovation, 77 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 1: of urbanization and automation. Joseph Murray Jacquard had invented a 78 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 1: machine that would later serve as one of the foundational 79 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: elements to one of Babbage's own inventions. This would be 80 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,839 Speaker 1: the Jacquard loom, which used punch cards as a way 81 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: to create specific woven patterns. The Jaccard loom is a 82 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,800 Speaker 1: fascinating piece of technology and a truly ingenious invention. It 83 00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:42,160 Speaker 1: allowed weavers to program a woven pattern, and assuming you 84 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:46,600 Speaker 1: operated the loom properly, the machine would follow the program exactly, 85 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: creating the pattern just as you had programmed it. Now, 86 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: the way this worked mechanically is super cool, but it's 87 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 1: also something that I don't think I can easily explain 88 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: without visual aids. But because there are a lot of 89 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:06,600 Speaker 1: moving parts, ultimately the punch cards would determine which threads 90 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:09,719 Speaker 1: in the loom would lift up for each pass of 91 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 1: a looms shuttle. So quick explanation here, just because it 92 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 1: will clear some stuff up. Let's imagine you've got a 93 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:21,600 Speaker 1: series of threads arranged vertically, and let's say they're all white. 94 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 1: This is the background of your woven pattern. Let's say 95 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:28,719 Speaker 1: you're making a rug. Well, you would weave by moving 96 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:34,080 Speaker 1: a new thread, probably a different color horizontally across these 97 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:38,040 Speaker 1: vertical strings, right, and you would alternate when you would 98 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: go over or under threads, and which threads you go 99 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 1: over or under would be dependent upon whatever pattern you're 100 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: trying to make. Uh. This is painstakingly slow to do 101 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,320 Speaker 1: by hand. So a loom space speeds us up by 102 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:58,520 Speaker 1: lifting some threads while keeping other threads down. So imagine 103 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 1: that the loom is lifting up every odd numbered thread 104 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:06,479 Speaker 1: and all the even numbered threads stay down. Then you 105 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: could pull a horizontal thread across the width of all 106 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:13,120 Speaker 1: these vertical lines, and then switch which threads are up 107 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: and which ones are down and pull the thread across again. 108 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 1: That's the job of the shuttle. The shuttle holds the 109 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: thread that goes back and forth horizontally across the lines 110 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: of vertical threads. So doing this and alternating it over 111 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:33,080 Speaker 1: and over again, that is weaving. It's much faster than 112 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: doing the over under, over under, over under by hand. Now, 113 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 1: the punch cards were important because they would give more 114 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: specific instructions about which threads would lift up and which 115 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: ones would stay down with each pass. And the end 116 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 1: result of this is that you would have a specific 117 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: woven pattern at the end, like an intricate design, something 118 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 1: that would have taken ages to do by hand, and 119 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 1: Babbage would later find a different use for punch cards 120 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 1: later in his own career. However, let's get back to 121 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: young Chuckers. He really was seeking understanding of the universe 122 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: in general, and that included the spiritual realm. So one 123 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: of my favorite stories about Babbage is about the time 124 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:24,040 Speaker 1: he tried to summon the devil. Yep, you heard me now. 125 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 1: According to the story, a teenage Charles Babbage, because of 126 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: course he was a teenager, decided that he was going 127 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: to sneak out of his room one night, creep toward 128 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: an unoccupied home that wasn't too far away, go up 129 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: to the attic with a lantern and knife in hand, 130 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,800 Speaker 1: and there he pricked his finger to draw blood. He 131 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 1: used that blood to draw up a circle, and then, 132 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: according to the story, he walked into the circle and 133 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 1: began to recite the Lord's prayer in reverse, keeping an 134 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:57,080 Speaker 1: eye out for any signs of the devil. And while 135 00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:00,120 Speaker 1: the devil did not show up, tenacious d totally did it, 136 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: and they rocked out for the rest of the night. Alright, 137 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 1: that part was a lie, But the story about Babbage 138 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:10,400 Speaker 1: trying to summon the devil is apparently true, and of 139 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 1: course nobody actually showed up. There are other stories of 140 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:17,920 Speaker 1: Babbage using his ingenuity to attempt to create devices that 141 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 1: would allow him to simulate the miracles mentioned in the Bible. 142 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:24,600 Speaker 1: So in a way, you could think of Charles Babbage 143 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: as kind of an early model for MythBusters, as he 144 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 1: tried to replicate biblical tales. You know, if you've watched MythBusters, 145 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:34,960 Speaker 1: you've seen that sometimes they're not testing a myth, they're 146 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:38,600 Speaker 1: trying to replicate the results of a myth. That was 147 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,760 Speaker 1: kind of what Babbage was doing. He was thinking, well, 148 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: how could I walk on water? And he would try 149 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:47,280 Speaker 1: to make stuff that would allow him to do that. 150 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: More often than not he failed. In eighteen oh six, 151 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:54,440 Speaker 1: when he was fifteen and just a couple of years 152 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 1: after Jacquard had invented his famous loom, Babbage enrolled in 153 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:03,560 Speaker 1: a school called forty Hill in Infield, a northern region 154 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:07,640 Speaker 1: of London, nearly two hundred miles away from his home. 155 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:12,280 Speaker 1: Forty Hill had thirty students, so it was positively teeming 156 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:15,679 Speaker 1: compared to the tiny school that Babbage had previously attended, 157 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 1: and Babbage met a mentor who would encourage his curiosity further, 158 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 1: a man named Stephen Freeman. Reverend Freeman was a mathematician 159 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: and an amateur astronomer, and soon Babbage would dive into 160 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: those subjects with the same enthusiasm he had shown in 161 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 1: trying to summon Lucifer. Babbage did become something of a 162 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:40,800 Speaker 1: troublesome student, acting out on occasion and committing small acts 163 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 1: of vandalism. After about a year, he was sent back 164 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:46,880 Speaker 1: home to study once more with tutors as he prepared 165 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:52,040 Speaker 1: for university, focusing primarily on mathematics. In eighteen ten, he 166 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:56,680 Speaker 1: was accepted into Trinity College at Cambridge. He had a 167 00:10:56,880 --> 00:10:59,960 Speaker 1: pretty easy go of it there. His family was well 168 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:03,199 Speaker 1: to do, so Babbage even had a personal maid who 169 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:06,520 Speaker 1: was paid for by his family. She would look after him, 170 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,240 Speaker 1: she would cook for him and clean for him, and 171 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,960 Speaker 1: he had an allowance of three hundred pounds sterling each year, 172 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: which today would be equivalent to around thirty thousand dollars. 173 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: So yeah, if you want to talk privilege, this guy 174 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: fits the bill. But Babbage also found the subject matter 175 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:29,080 Speaker 1: of his studies to be lacking, complaining that the college 176 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:33,200 Speaker 1: was teaching outdated material he sought out on his own 177 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:37,439 Speaker 1: the works of more contemporary mathematicians, mostly from the continent. 178 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:40,640 Speaker 1: His desire to learn pushed him to spend a significant 179 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:45,559 Speaker 1: amount to acquire calculus textbooks that came from France, which 180 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:49,840 Speaker 1: was pretty hard to do because at the time there 181 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:53,680 Speaker 1: was this little scuffle going on called the Napoleonic Wars. 182 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 1: Babbage formed as a bit of a joke a mathematics 183 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:00,560 Speaker 1: club at Trinity College that looked towards Europe and the 184 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 1: mathematicians there as superior to the ones that they were 185 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:08,400 Speaker 1: studying while they were in class. Most of the mathematicians 186 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: they were studying were English because England was extremely nationalistic. Now. 187 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,160 Speaker 1: One of his fellow club members was a guy named 188 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:21,920 Speaker 1: John Herschel that was a son of William Herschel, the 189 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:26,640 Speaker 1: astronomer who first discovered uranus. So this was prestigious company 190 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:29,200 Speaker 1: he was in, and the club became known as the 191 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:33,520 Speaker 1: Analytical Society. They pulled their books together and they formed 192 00:12:33,559 --> 00:12:38,439 Speaker 1: their own society library from their collected text books. Babbage 193 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:42,440 Speaker 1: transferred from Trinity College to Peter House. Both colleges are 194 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:46,240 Speaker 1: part of University of Cambridge, with Peter House the oldest 195 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:50,440 Speaker 1: of the constituent colleges. That one was founded way back 196 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 1: in twelve eighty four. Trinity College, by comparison, is positively youthful, 197 00:12:56,200 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: having been founded in fifteen forty six. For those unfamiliar 198 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:03,280 Speaker 1: year with universities like Cambridge, the university as a whole 199 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:06,959 Speaker 1: is made up of more than thirty semi autonomous colleges, 200 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:10,640 Speaker 1: and the colleges don't share a single campus. Rather, they 201 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:13,640 Speaker 1: are found throughout the city of Cambridge. So while Babbage 202 00:13:13,679 --> 00:13:16,439 Speaker 1: was still part of the University of Cambridge as a whole, 203 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:19,200 Speaker 1: he was no longer studying at Trinity College with his 204 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: buddies in the Analytical Society. Babbage also continued to be 205 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:27,200 Speaker 1: interested in the paranormal. He joined a ghost club at 206 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:31,720 Speaker 1: Payder House. However, he also must have recognized that such 207 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:37,320 Speaker 1: beliefs were viewed as um let's call it eccentric, because 208 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:41,400 Speaker 1: he also joined a club called the Extraction Club, which 209 00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:47,000 Speaker 1: boy okay, alright. So the Extraction Club had a rule. 210 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:50,600 Speaker 1: Every member of the club was meant to send a 211 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:56,199 Speaker 1: handwritten letter including their current address, to the club's secretary 212 00:13:56,559 --> 00:14:02,000 Speaker 1: every six months. Failure to do so would result in 213 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:07,200 Speaker 1: the club turning its full resources to extract that member 214 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 1: from an asylum, because it was assumed that if you 215 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:15,200 Speaker 1: were unable to respond to this demand that you send 216 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:17,520 Speaker 1: a letter every six months, that you must have been 217 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 1: committed to an asylum for being very eccentric will say uh, 218 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:26,360 Speaker 1: and that they would use any means necessary to get 219 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 1: the member out of the asylum, legal or otherwise. So 220 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: Babbage's college years were very different from my own. Chuck 221 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:39,920 Speaker 1: received an honorary diploma from paid House. The reason for 222 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,640 Speaker 1: the honorary status is another ridiculous story, but I feel 223 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: I've been a little too indulgent in his college years already. 224 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:49,960 Speaker 1: And he also married the woman he had been courting 225 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:54,560 Speaker 1: for three years. She was Georgina Whitmore, someone who sounds 226 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 1: to me like she was genuinely a good person. However, 227 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: Charles's father, Benji Jr. Took issue with his son marrying 228 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:06,720 Speaker 1: so young in life. Now remember, Charles's father way until 229 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:09,320 Speaker 1: he was in his late thirties before he got married, 230 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:11,920 Speaker 1: and he felt that Charles was making a big mistake 231 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:16,640 Speaker 1: for not securing his career before settling into domesticity. His 232 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 1: father actually liked Georgina, but he hated the idea of 233 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:23,640 Speaker 1: his son getting married, so young, and that put a 234 00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:28,240 Speaker 1: strain upon the familial bonds. Charles, for his part, lamented 235 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:32,720 Speaker 1: his father was quote uncommonly fond of money end quote. 236 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,360 Speaker 1: Though heck, this is the same Charles Babbage who had 237 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 1: an allowance equivalent to thirty grand a year while he 238 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:43,320 Speaker 1: was in college. So you know, glass houses. And heck 239 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: d Adams was still sending the three hundred pounds a year, 240 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:50,160 Speaker 1: and Georgina received a hundred fifty pounds a year from 241 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:53,200 Speaker 1: her family, So the two already had a pretty decent 242 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:57,840 Speaker 1: income without you know, having to work for it. In 243 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:02,160 Speaker 1: eighteen sixteen, two years after he graduated university, the twenty 244 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 1: four year old Charles Babbage would give an impressive lecture 245 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:07,920 Speaker 1: to a group of distinguished gentleman in London, with an 246 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:12,600 Speaker 1: outcome that ultimately discouraged Babbage. I'll explain more after we 247 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:23,920 Speaker 1: take this quick break. Charles Babbage presented a two part 248 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: lecture on calculus and an essay titled Demonstrations of some 249 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:32,680 Speaker 1: of Dr Matthew Stuart's General Theorems to the Royal Society 250 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: of London. This institution is dedicated, ostensibly anyway, to the 251 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: furthering of human knowledge in the various sciences. Babbage had 252 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:45,320 Speaker 1: hoped to gain entry into this influential society, which would 253 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:50,320 Speaker 1: give him valuable connections and potentially have him linked up 254 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:54,240 Speaker 1: with a really good position that befitted his skills, and 255 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: his presentations proved to be just the ticket to get in. However, 256 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:02,280 Speaker 1: he soon became disillusion and with the Royal Society. He 257 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:05,760 Speaker 1: felt that rather than pursuing knowledge and pushing back the 258 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:08,639 Speaker 1: boundaries of what we don't know, the society was being 259 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 1: really indulgent. They were spending most of their time having 260 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:16,160 Speaker 1: fancy dinners, then holding various ceremonies in which some members 261 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:19,640 Speaker 1: of the society would give medals to some other members 262 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:22,840 Speaker 1: of the group, not exactly what he was hoping to 263 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 1: sign up for. For the next few years, Babbage sought 264 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:29,200 Speaker 1: out a position at a college, but had no real luck. 265 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:32,439 Speaker 1: In eighteen nineteen, he traveled to Europe and encountered the 266 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 1: infamous mechanical hoax called the Turk. Long time listeners have 267 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:39,240 Speaker 1: heard the story of the Turk how a man named 268 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:44,920 Speaker 1: Wolfgang von Kimplin, determined to impress Austrian Impress Maria Teresa, 269 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: created what he claimed to be an autonomous mechanical chess 270 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:54,280 Speaker 1: playing figure in the form of a Turk, and this 271 00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:58,440 Speaker 1: figure would play games against all comers and when far 272 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:01,680 Speaker 1: more often than it would lose, and that von Kimplin 273 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,119 Speaker 1: would open up the cabinet that was below the figure 274 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:07,080 Speaker 1: to reveal that there were a bunch of gears and 275 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 1: cogs supposedly working the device. Now, Babbage himself played two 276 00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:16,600 Speaker 1: matches against the Turk, and he lost both of them. 277 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:18,919 Speaker 1: He was intrigued by the idea of a machine that 278 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:22,080 Speaker 1: could be able to process information independently of a human, 279 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:25,720 Speaker 1: but at the same time he dismissed the Turk itself 280 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:28,160 Speaker 1: as a hoax. He theorized that there must be some 281 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,400 Speaker 1: human player hidden within the machine that was making all 282 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:33,720 Speaker 1: the moves, and as it turns out, he was right. 283 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:36,960 Speaker 1: That's exactly what was going on, as the world would 284 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:41,639 Speaker 1: learn a few decades later. In eighteen twenty, after publishing 285 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 1: more works about mathematics, Babbage received an invitation to join 286 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:49,240 Speaker 1: the Royal Society of Edinburgh, but he felt that this 287 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:53,160 Speaker 1: version of the Royal Society also failed to meet his expectations, 288 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:57,400 Speaker 1: and so he decided to be like Bender in Futurama, 289 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:02,040 Speaker 1: I'll make my own society with as in astronomy, so 290 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:05,360 Speaker 1: he and several of his friends and peers, including John Herschel, 291 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: his former schoolmate, created the Astronomical Society of London, a 292 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: sort of rival club to the Royal Society. One of 293 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 1: the first projects that they tackled was to revise the 294 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:22,159 Speaker 1: Nautical Almanac, a publication that gave detailed information on the 295 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 1: position of certain celestial bodies throughout the year for the 296 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:30,800 Speaker 1: purposes of navigation. The Almanac has within it many many 297 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,720 Speaker 1: mathematical tables, and some of those tables had errors in them, 298 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: and so the goal was to try and create an 299 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:41,200 Speaker 1: error free version of the Almanac. The work was done manually, 300 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:45,480 Speaker 1: with two clerks working on each table independently of each other. 301 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,119 Speaker 1: When they were both done working on a table, the 302 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,680 Speaker 1: results would be compared against one another to look for disparities. 303 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: Now that helped but did not eliminate error, and it 304 00:19:56,800 --> 00:19:59,359 Speaker 1: may have been around this time that Babbage first started 305 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:02,200 Speaker 1: thinking about the possibility of creating a machine that would 306 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:07,040 Speaker 1: be able to replicate a precise mathematical process perfectly over 307 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:11,280 Speaker 1: and over for the purposes of generating mathematical tables error free. 308 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:14,560 Speaker 1: In eighteen twenty one, Babbage began to plan out such 309 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:18,160 Speaker 1: a machine, which would become known as the difference engine 310 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:23,000 Speaker 1: number one or sometimes the differential engine number one. It 311 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:27,440 Speaker 1: would allow an operator to calculate polynomial functions. And if 312 00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:29,960 Speaker 1: you're like me and it's been a while since you've 313 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,199 Speaker 1: taken trigonometry or a calculus, it might be helpful to 314 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:36,240 Speaker 1: have a reminder as to what these functions are. Things 315 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:40,520 Speaker 1: changing so scory nowadays and everybody quick to forget. So 316 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:45,200 Speaker 1: the word polynomial literally means many terms, and it is 317 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: a mathematic expression that can contain constants, that is, terms 318 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:53,760 Speaker 1: that have a specific and unchanging value, you know, like five. 319 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:57,560 Speaker 1: They can also have variables, that is, terms that can 320 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:01,800 Speaker 1: have one of many values, the class being x. And 321 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:04,679 Speaker 1: they can have exponents that is, the power to which 322 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 1: the associated quantity is raised, like two to the fourth power, 323 00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:11,600 Speaker 1: which is the same as two times two times two 324 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:15,560 Speaker 1: times two or sixteen. So you could have a polynomial 325 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:20,400 Speaker 1: expression looks something like four x plus two y minus 326 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:24,080 Speaker 1: twenty five. The end value of that expression depends upon 327 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:28,040 Speaker 1: the individual values of those variables. There are a lot 328 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:31,399 Speaker 1: of functions that boil down to polynomial expressions, and so 329 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:33,960 Speaker 1: you could create tables that gave the result of those 330 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:37,920 Speaker 1: expressions based on the values of the variables. And that's 331 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:41,119 Speaker 1: what Babbage wanted to do. He wanted to make a 332 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 1: machine that, when you set it for specific values within 333 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 1: a polynomial function, you could operate it to generate the 334 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:52,000 Speaker 1: results of that function steady and reliably. Each time the 335 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:54,800 Speaker 1: machine would generate an answer, it would advance the gears 336 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,720 Speaker 1: and the machinery so that the variables would have new values. 337 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: So let's say that you're working with x x as 338 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:03,480 Speaker 1: your variable and it shows up a couple of times 339 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:08,159 Speaker 1: in your your polynomial function like two x plus x 340 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:12,160 Speaker 1: to the second power plus twenty. Well, you would need 341 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:14,760 Speaker 1: to figure out what the value of that function is 342 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,159 Speaker 1: based on the value of x. Then you can just 343 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,959 Speaker 1: keep on going, all right, Well, what if x is one? 344 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:23,280 Speaker 1: What if excess to what if xcess three? And so on. 345 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:26,280 Speaker 1: He wanted a machine where he could do this very 346 00:22:26,359 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: much automatically. To put it another way, and really to 347 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:33,119 Speaker 1: oversimplify things, Let's say you have a calculator and it 348 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:35,320 Speaker 1: happens to have a quirk where if you press the 349 00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:39,280 Speaker 1: plus button twice, it automatically adds the last number you 350 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: entered into the calculator to whatever the last result is. 351 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,359 Speaker 1: And let's say you did the simple calculation of three 352 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:50,520 Speaker 1: plus three, so you're your result is six. But then 353 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:53,480 Speaker 1: you hit the plus button two times and it automatically 354 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:57,879 Speaker 1: adds three to that result. Now you've got nine. You 355 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:00,679 Speaker 1: hit the plus button twice again, and now got twelve. 356 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:04,600 Speaker 1: So the calculator is repeating that step exactly, and it 357 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:08,040 Speaker 1: never makes a mistake no matter how frequently you do this. 358 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:11,640 Speaker 1: And that's sort of what Babbage was thinking. He wanted 359 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:15,600 Speaker 1: a device that was consistent and dependable, and most importantly, 360 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:20,200 Speaker 1: reliable for accurate results. It must have been an enticing 361 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:23,360 Speaker 1: thought being able to generate all sorts of mathematical tables 362 00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:26,920 Speaker 1: for various publications and never having to worry if they 363 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:31,800 Speaker 1: contained errors, Because this was something Babbage was really passionate about. 364 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:37,119 Speaker 1: He would compare different textbooks containing tables of logarithmic functions 365 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:40,400 Speaker 1: and things of that nature, and he would despair when 366 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:43,440 Speaker 1: they didn't agree with one another, because it indicated that 367 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:47,160 Speaker 1: someone was wrong somewhere. But because the results of these 368 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,520 Speaker 1: tables required a lot of manual work to calculate, it 369 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:53,560 Speaker 1: was a laborious process to figure out which of the 370 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,879 Speaker 1: two or more textbooks was the right one, and worse 371 00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:00,280 Speaker 1: than that, they could both be wrong in different as. 372 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:02,680 Speaker 1: The whole purpose of the tables was to make work 373 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:06,960 Speaker 1: easier for clerks doing calculations by hand. They represented kind 374 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,280 Speaker 1: of a short cut to common tasks. But at the 375 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:13,959 Speaker 1: shortcut is wrong, everything that follows it will also be wrong. 376 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:17,280 Speaker 1: Babbage is desired to know things for certain, and his 377 00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:21,000 Speaker 1: intolerance for error drove his creativity. When it came to 378 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 1: devising a machine that could do the work infallibly. He 379 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:27,679 Speaker 1: got to work building a small prototype of what he 380 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: had in mind. He used a lathe to build some 381 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:33,240 Speaker 1: of the basic components, and then he hired on a 382 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 1: workshop to make some of the more complicated fiddly bits 383 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,479 Speaker 1: that were beyond his skill to produce. It was nearly 384 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:43,200 Speaker 1: summer in eighteen twenty two when he had a small 385 00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:46,240 Speaker 1: but working version of his idea. It was a very 386 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:50,439 Speaker 1: limited one, but a working prototype, and when compared to 387 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:53,840 Speaker 1: what Babbage had in mind, it was very tiny, but 388 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:55,640 Speaker 1: it still had a ton of moving parts. There were 389 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 1: twenty four axles, upon which there were ninety six wheels. 390 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:03,440 Speaker 1: The wheels geared would fit together, and the gears had 391 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:06,400 Speaker 1: different ratios between them, so that a rotation of one 392 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:09,520 Speaker 1: wheel would translate to either more or fewer rotations of 393 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:14,640 Speaker 1: another wheel. Gear ratios are really important in mechanical systems, 394 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:17,680 Speaker 1: and we see them used in everything from clocks to 395 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:23,800 Speaker 1: vinyl record turntables to car transmissions. And it's pretty easy 396 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 1: to understand. Let's just imagine two gears and one has 397 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,359 Speaker 1: a circumference of ten inches and the other one has 398 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:34,119 Speaker 1: a circumference of five inches, and the two interlocked together, 399 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:37,400 Speaker 1: so that turning one will make the other one turn 400 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:40,320 Speaker 1: as well. If you were to rotate the ten inch 401 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:45,400 Speaker 1: gear once, the five inch gear would have two full rotations. Likewise, 402 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:47,920 Speaker 1: if you are to rotate the five inch gear just 403 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,000 Speaker 1: one time, the ten inch gear will go through just 404 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:55,200 Speaker 1: half a rotation. So by combining gears of different sizes, 405 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:59,000 Speaker 1: and by the way, this isn't just different circumferences, we're 406 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,160 Speaker 1: also talking about the number of teeth each gear has. 407 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,920 Speaker 1: I'm just oversimplifying here, but anyway, you can precisely determine 408 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:08,760 Speaker 1: the mechanical motions of a device by pairing these different 409 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:12,280 Speaker 1: gears and different ratios. Gear ratios are also important when 410 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 1: it comes to stuff like the amount of torque you generate. 411 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:20,440 Speaker 1: That's rotational force. But that's enough about gear ratios for now. 412 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:24,960 Speaker 1: Babbage's prototype could only calculate a table based on the 413 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:30,159 Speaker 1: polynomial formula x to the second power plus x plus 414 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:33,320 Speaker 1: forty one. What's more, it was limited to just the 415 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: first thirty values of that calculation, and the variables could 416 00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:41,960 Speaker 1: only have whole integers as values. A crank provided the 417 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:45,320 Speaker 1: rotational force needed to operate the machine, which could generate 418 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:48,439 Speaker 1: results at a speed of thirty three digits per minute, 419 00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:50,919 Speaker 1: so it took about two seconds for the machine to 420 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 1: produce a digit. It didn't have a way to print 421 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:56,040 Speaker 1: the results either, you had to read it right off 422 00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:59,159 Speaker 1: the machine. Now, the full version he hoped to build 423 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:03,520 Speaker 1: would include a printer, but that was beyond his abilities. 424 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,159 Speaker 1: At this point. He gathered his fellow members of the 425 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,280 Speaker 1: Astronomical Society and he showed off his work in June 426 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:14,200 Speaker 1: twenty two. His peers offered some feedback, and he took 427 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,440 Speaker 1: it into account for his more grandiose plans. He then 428 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:21,679 Speaker 1: penned a letter titled Note on the Application of Machinery 429 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:25,800 Speaker 1: to the Computation of Astronomical and Mathematical Tables and send 430 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:28,119 Speaker 1: it to the President of the Royal Society of London. 431 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:32,400 Speaker 1: That would be Sir Humphrey Davy as a quick aside. 432 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:35,200 Speaker 1: Sir Humphrey is best known today for his experiments in 433 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:42,200 Speaker 1: which he used electricity to isolate various elements like boron, calcium, strontium, sodium, 434 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:45,480 Speaker 1: and potassium, among others. He's also famous for creating the 435 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,320 Speaker 1: Davy lamp, which is an oil lamp that had a 436 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:52,520 Speaker 1: fine metal mesh surrounding the flame and that would allow 437 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,880 Speaker 1: air to pass through to feed the process of burning, 438 00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:59,640 Speaker 1: but it prevented the flame from escaping, which was incredibly 439 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 1: useful in areas that had flammable gases present, like in 440 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:06,199 Speaker 1: coal mines. He would also do some early work with 441 00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:11,280 Speaker 1: arc lamps, which uses an arc of electricity to provide light. Anyway, 442 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:13,879 Speaker 1: Sir Humphrey Davy was a super important dude and one 443 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: day I'll have to do a full episode about him. 444 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:20,639 Speaker 1: Babbage's letter included not only a description of his difference engine, 445 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,240 Speaker 1: but also Babbage's thoughts on more advanced machines that would 446 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,159 Speaker 1: be able to do much more, including multiply any number 447 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:30,800 Speaker 1: of figures by any other number, and a means by 448 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:33,880 Speaker 1: which he could generate a table of prime numbers from 449 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 1: zero to ten million, and most importantly, by using the machines, 450 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,000 Speaker 1: he could be certain that the tables would be free 451 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:43,680 Speaker 1: of error. Now, big prime numbers are something that's really 452 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 1: useful in cryptography. A pretty common method of encrypting information 453 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:52,880 Speaker 1: involves creating a key system that uses two extremely large 454 00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:57,240 Speaker 1: prime numbers. Then you multiply those two numbers together to 455 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:00,719 Speaker 1: create an even bigger number, which is used in the 456 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:05,400 Speaker 1: encryption process. So to decrypt the information, you need to 457 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:09,400 Speaker 1: know those two big prime numbers, and it's really hard 458 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:13,280 Speaker 1: to work backward from the product of multiplication to figure 459 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 1: out which two really big prime numbers were used to 460 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:19,960 Speaker 1: generate that product. This is the basis for much of 461 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:24,560 Speaker 1: modern cryptography, including the mining process for bitcoins, among other things. 462 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:29,000 Speaker 1: Though Babbage was not that into bitcoins since they hadn't 463 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,560 Speaker 1: been invented yet. He was more concerned about creating tools 464 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:34,640 Speaker 1: that would allow for more efficient and accurate calculations for 465 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:40,680 Speaker 1: future work. The Royal Society responded to Babbage's letter with enthusiasm, 466 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:44,680 Speaker 1: commending Babbage on his ingenuity, but Chuck had hit pretty 467 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:46,760 Speaker 1: much the limit of how far he could go on 468 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:49,680 Speaker 1: his own He had been funding his work on his own, 469 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 1: but he needed financial support if he was going to continue, 470 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:55,880 Speaker 1: and so he sought our meeting with the Chancellor of 471 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: the Exchequer to see if he could get some public 472 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:02,000 Speaker 1: funding for his work. When we come back, i'll talk 473 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:04,640 Speaker 1: more about how that turned out, but first let's take 474 00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: a quick break. Babbage Is meeting with the Chancellor of 475 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,600 Speaker 1: the Exchequer probably caused Chuck a bit of anxiety. After all, 476 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,959 Speaker 1: it was one thing to communicate with fellow mathematicians and 477 00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:27,280 Speaker 1: the scientifically minded and agree upon the utility of Babbage's invention. 478 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:30,800 Speaker 1: To them, it would be obvious. But it's another matter 479 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,360 Speaker 1: to convince someone who's holding the purse strings. That person 480 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:38,240 Speaker 1: may or may not share that same mindset. Babbage brought 481 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:41,520 Speaker 1: with him a letter of recommendation from the Royal Society 482 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,840 Speaker 1: of London, and that went a long way, and so 483 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,840 Speaker 1: ultimately he was granted an advanced somewhere in the neighborhood 484 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:53,920 Speaker 1: of pounds. Not all accounts actually agree on the exact amount, 485 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 1: but it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of a 486 00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:00,280 Speaker 1: hundred fifty thousand dollars in today's money. A prince lay 487 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:04,720 Speaker 1: some in return, Babbage was meant to complete a difference 488 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 1: engine capable of computing quote six orders of differences each 489 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:12,560 Speaker 1: of twenty places of figures end quote, and do so 490 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: at a rate of forty four digits per minute, and 491 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:18,800 Speaker 1: he had three years to do it. Babbage would do 492 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,320 Speaker 1: some of the construction work in his own workshop. He 493 00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:25,000 Speaker 1: turned much of his own home into additional workspaces, and 494 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,640 Speaker 1: he hired on an engineer named Joseph Clement to oversee 495 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:33,800 Speaker 1: additional work at a professional manufacturing facility. Unfortunately, the building 496 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:36,880 Speaker 1: process did not go as quickly or as smoothly as 497 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:40,880 Speaker 1: Babbage had hoped. Three years came and went and he 498 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:44,000 Speaker 1: was still working on it. He took on additional jobs 499 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:48,200 Speaker 1: in the meantime as work continued, and occasionally he would 500 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:54,800 Speaker 1: fund his own work in Babbage suffered a pretty severe 501 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:59,400 Speaker 1: mental breakdown because it was a very tragic year for him. 502 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:03,280 Speaker 1: In that one year, he lost his father, with whom 503 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:07,040 Speaker 1: he had had you know, that difficult relationship. His wife 504 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:11,040 Speaker 1: and his newborn son passed away that year, and his 505 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:14,120 Speaker 1: ten year old son also passed away that year, so 506 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:17,120 Speaker 1: he lost four family members in the space of a year. 507 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:20,360 Speaker 1: His friends were able to convince him to take a 508 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:23,800 Speaker 1: break from his work on the difference engine and told 509 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:26,840 Speaker 1: him that he should travel to help kind of deal 510 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:30,800 Speaker 1: with his grief, and so he sent his children to 511 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:36,160 Speaker 1: stay with his mother. He had several children with his wife, 512 00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:38,760 Speaker 1: and his surviving children went to his mom to stay 513 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:42,840 Speaker 1: with her, and then John Herschel, his good friend from school, 514 00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:46,160 Speaker 1: took over the job of overseeing progress on the difference 515 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:50,560 Speaker 1: Engine while he was traveling. Babbage would return to England 516 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:54,600 Speaker 1: in eighteen twenty eight, after having visited various colleges and 517 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 1: universities and research facilities throughout Europe. He secured a professor 518 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:03,640 Speaker 1: position in Cambridge and he resumed overseeing the construction of 519 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:08,440 Speaker 1: the difference Engine. The monstrosity now had nearly twenty five 520 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:11,400 Speaker 1: thousand parts. If it were to be finished, it would 521 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:16,840 Speaker 1: have weighed four tons. It had also gone well over budget, 522 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,880 Speaker 1: but the Royal Society of London helped Babbage recoup expenses, 523 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:24,640 Speaker 1: convincing the UK government to send more financial support towards Babbage. 524 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:28,760 Speaker 1: So Babbage would foot the bill and then over time 525 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:33,280 Speaker 1: he would get money from the UK Government that helped 526 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:38,320 Speaker 1: offset his costs, but that support only stretched so far. 527 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:42,840 Speaker 1: By eighteen thirty two, the government had kind of had 528 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:47,600 Speaker 1: enough at that point. It had invested around seventeen thousand 529 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:53,040 Speaker 1: pounds into this effort. Babbage himself had contributed around six 530 00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:56,360 Speaker 1: thousand pounds of his own money into the project, and 531 00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:59,520 Speaker 1: it was nowhere close to being finished, so the government 532 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:04,800 Speaker 1: chose to suspend support, deeming it a waste of resources. 533 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:07,600 Speaker 1: For the time being. It technically was still in the books, 534 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:13,040 Speaker 1: but all actual financial support was suspended. Babbage decided to 535 00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:16,479 Speaker 1: expand his workshop space at his home and to move 536 00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:21,160 Speaker 1: all operations into that workspace. This was something that rubbed 537 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:24,480 Speaker 1: the engineer Clement the wrong way, and the two were 538 00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:27,840 Speaker 1: unable to find a compromise, and so Clement and Babbage 539 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:31,960 Speaker 1: parted ways. By the end of all this, Babbage had 540 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:35,799 Speaker 1: started to grow really disenchanted with the whole process. He 541 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:39,160 Speaker 1: still had a really far away to go. Three quarters 542 00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:41,319 Speaker 1: of the work was yet to be done, and the 543 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:45,080 Speaker 1: setbacks he had encountered and the personal losses he had 544 00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:47,840 Speaker 1: endured had discouraged him to the point that he decided 545 00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:51,800 Speaker 1: to give up on the project. However, something else happened 546 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:55,320 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty two that would be a positive change 547 00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:58,480 Speaker 1: in his life, A significant one in an effort to 548 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:03,120 Speaker 1: expand his social circle, he began to host parties. These 549 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:05,959 Speaker 1: parties were meant not only to help him make new 550 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:10,800 Speaker 1: connections with influential people, but also introduce his growing children 551 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:14,799 Speaker 1: to influential families as well. Something that's important if you're 552 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:17,319 Speaker 1: trying to do things like you know, potentially set up 553 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 1: a possible marriage in the future. And it was one 554 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:23,920 Speaker 1: of these parties that a seventeen year old woman named 555 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:29,200 Speaker 1: Augusta Ada Byron, better known to us as Ada Lovelace, 556 00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:33,080 Speaker 1: the daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron, walked into 557 00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:36,200 Speaker 1: his life. Now. The accounts say that at the party, 558 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:40,120 Speaker 1: Babbage demonstrated to his guests a more recent prototype of 559 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:44,680 Speaker 1: his difference engine. This one had two thousand moving parts, 560 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:49,960 Speaker 1: and love Lace was absolutely fascinated by this. She, like Babbage, 561 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:52,839 Speaker 1: had a love of mathematics and logic, and the two 562 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:56,680 Speaker 1: found they shared many interests. It wasn't long before they 563 00:35:56,719 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 1: became fast friends, and that love Lace would become a 564 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:03,640 Speaker 1: professional partner to Babbage. In some ways, she was like 565 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:07,880 Speaker 1: a daughter to him, particularly after the tragic loss of 566 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:13,279 Speaker 1: Babbage's own daughter, Georgiana in thirty four, Babbage continued to 567 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:18,279 Speaker 1: work and host parties. Despite experiencing tremendous personal loss in 568 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:21,479 Speaker 1: his life, he was known to be a little bit 569 00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:24,959 Speaker 1: irascible as well. There's a wonderful story that I want 570 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:29,800 Speaker 1: to share. Babbage famously once wrote a letter criticizing Alfred 571 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:33,600 Speaker 1: Lord Tennyson for a verse in the vision of sin. 572 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:38,720 Speaker 1: Babbage's message to Tennyson said, in your otherwise beautiful poem, 573 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:43,040 Speaker 1: one verse reads every moment dies a man, every moment 574 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:47,080 Speaker 1: one is born. If this were true, the population of 575 00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: the world would be at a standstill. In truth, the 576 00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:53,440 Speaker 1: rate of birth is slightly in excess of that of death. 577 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:56,800 Speaker 1: I would suggest that the next version of your poem 578 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:00,719 Speaker 1: should read every moment dies a man, every moment one 579 00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:09,279 Speaker 1: one six is born. And he probably wasn't joking about that. Lovelace, 580 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:12,600 Speaker 1: by contrast, was much better at dealing with the human 581 00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:16,040 Speaker 1: side of life while still maintaining a keen mind for 582 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:20,760 Speaker 1: the mathematic and scientific, and the two worked very well together. 583 00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:24,560 Speaker 1: Babbage turned his mind to other types of invention as well. 584 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:27,920 Speaker 1: He created the cow catcher a k a. The pilot. 585 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,400 Speaker 1: This is the wedge frame that extends in front of 586 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:34,960 Speaker 1: a locomotive as designed to push obstacles out of the 587 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:36,840 Speaker 1: way of the train. If something happens to be on 588 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:39,000 Speaker 1: the tracks, it's meant to move it out of the 589 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:42,400 Speaker 1: way so it doesn't derail the train. He also invented 590 00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:47,000 Speaker 1: a railway vehicle called the dynamometer, which could measure train performance. 591 00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:53,200 Speaker 1: Babbage was obsessed with quantifying various phenomena, even stuff that 592 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:57,800 Speaker 1: might seem to be unquantifiable. It was an eighteen forty 593 00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:00,840 Speaker 1: that Babbage would travel to France, whereupon on he encountered 594 00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:04,320 Speaker 1: the Jacquard looms i mentioned earlier. This is where Babbage 595 00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:07,839 Speaker 1: first saw the use of punch cards, and before long 596 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:11,520 Speaker 1: he began to imagine new uses for that type of technology. 597 00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:14,480 Speaker 1: He thought of a machine that could use punch cards 598 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:18,600 Speaker 1: to carry out specific instructions, something even more advanced than 599 00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:22,440 Speaker 1: the difference engine design of his. He called this new 600 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:28,080 Speaker 1: machine design the analytical engine. Lovelace quickly became an enthusiastic 601 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:31,240 Speaker 1: supporter of this idea, and she took it even further. 602 00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:34,440 Speaker 1: While Babbage was thinking of a machine capable of performing 603 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:38,840 Speaker 1: complicated mathematical processes, love Lace envisioned a world in which 604 00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:42,279 Speaker 1: all sorts of things, from language to music could be 605 00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:46,759 Speaker 1: translated into mathematics and then manipulated or even created through 606 00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:52,239 Speaker 1: such a machine. She imagined music made by machine. In 607 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:56,520 Speaker 1: other words, Lovelace was imagining computer science nearly a century 608 00:38:56,560 --> 00:38:59,880 Speaker 1: before we would see the first programmable general purpose machines. 609 00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:04,960 Speaker 1: Babbage's design for the Analytical Engine was both more audacious 610 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:08,319 Speaker 1: than the Difference Engine and more elegant. It would be 611 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:11,720 Speaker 1: steam powered, it would be able to store one thousand 612 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:14,680 Speaker 1: digits with fifty decimal places. It would be able to 613 00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:18,800 Speaker 1: perform any type of mathematical function, and Babbage and Lovelace 614 00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:22,239 Speaker 1: worked together to create a very long pamphlet, more than 615 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:26,120 Speaker 1: sixty pages in length, describing the design of the Analytical 616 00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:30,399 Speaker 1: Engine in eighteen forty three. By this time, the UK 617 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:34,160 Speaker 1: government had officially canceled funding for the Difference Engine. It 618 00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:38,880 Speaker 1: was no longer just suspended. The project itself was no more. Babbage, however, 619 00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:41,200 Speaker 1: hadn't quite let go of the idea, and he began 620 00:39:41,239 --> 00:39:43,560 Speaker 1: to work on a new proposal for such a device. 621 00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:47,440 Speaker 1: The Difference Engine Number two would be mechanically simpler than 622 00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:50,399 Speaker 1: the original machine. He had able to do more than 623 00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:53,560 Speaker 1: his first design, while Engine number one had more than 624 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:56,600 Speaker 1: twenty five thousand parts before it had been canceled and 625 00:39:56,760 --> 00:39:59,759 Speaker 1: remember it was only about a quarter finished. The new 626 00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:02,440 Speaker 1: does zign called for a machine with eight thousand parts. 627 00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:04,640 Speaker 1: He would work on that in between his work with 628 00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:09,440 Speaker 1: Lovelace on the analytical Engine. Little side adventure here. Babbage was, 629 00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:13,480 Speaker 1: among other things, an enthusiastic patron of the theater. And 630 00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:15,760 Speaker 1: there's a story that says he was watching an opera 631 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:18,759 Speaker 1: and noticed light playing upon the lace bonnet of his 632 00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:21,200 Speaker 1: friend who attended the show with him, and that gave 633 00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:24,879 Speaker 1: him an idea. He contacted his buddy Michael Faraday, who 634 00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:28,080 Speaker 1: also deserves his own episode, to go over a concept. 635 00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:31,319 Speaker 1: He wanted to use liquids of different colors, you know, 636 00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:33,759 Speaker 1: jars of these liquids, so you have like a jar 637 00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:36,319 Speaker 1: of amber liquid, a jar of blue liquid, and so on, 638 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:41,080 Speaker 1: and then place those jars in front of a limelight lamp. Essentially, 639 00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:43,920 Speaker 1: he wanted to create a primitive series of color filters 640 00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:47,680 Speaker 1: for theatrical lights to create a specific effect. He even 641 00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:50,880 Speaker 1: went to the trouble of making a ballet called a 642 00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:54,160 Speaker 1: Letheys and Iris to show this off, complete with the 643 00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:57,440 Speaker 1: cast of sixty young women in white costume so that 644 00:40:57,520 --> 00:41:01,520 Speaker 1: the light would play upon their outfits while rehearsing this piece, 645 00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:04,400 Speaker 1: the theater manager got second thoughts because he started to 646 00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:06,919 Speaker 1: worry about the possibility of a fire with so much 647 00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:10,279 Speaker 1: liquid near powerful electric lamps, and so the piece was 648 00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:15,480 Speaker 1: never actually performed for the public. Tragedy returned to Babbage's 649 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:18,920 Speaker 1: life in eighteen fifty two, when Ada Lovelace would pass 650 00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:22,560 Speaker 1: away from illness. She was only thirty six years old. 651 00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:27,080 Speaker 1: Babbage once again was left behind. He continued to work, 652 00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:30,840 Speaker 1: completing blueprints for a prototype version of the analytical engine 653 00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:33,880 Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty six, but he failed to find funding 654 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:37,400 Speaker 1: for either the difference Engine or the Analytical Engine. The 655 00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:40,359 Speaker 1: government had become really wary of his history of going 656 00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:43,680 Speaker 1: over budget without producing a final working piece of equipment. 657 00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:47,880 Speaker 1: They did offer him a knighthood, but he declined that offer. 658 00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:53,520 Speaker 1: He grew increasingly unpleasant as he aged in the eighteen sixties. 659 00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:57,200 Speaker 1: He was generally disliked by his neighbors, and he could 660 00:41:57,239 --> 00:42:00,440 Speaker 1: be the patron saint of Get Off My Lawn. He 661 00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:03,799 Speaker 1: was known in particular for his dislike of street performers 662 00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:06,640 Speaker 1: and musicians, and I really do mean he was known 663 00:42:06,719 --> 00:42:10,520 Speaker 1: for it because he wrote a pamphlet about it, listing 664 00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:14,799 Speaker 1: all the sins of quote, encouragers of street music, and 665 00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:20,640 Speaker 1: among whose numbers he counted gen shops, coffee shops, tourists, children, 666 00:42:21,239 --> 00:42:26,200 Speaker 1: and uh ladies of doubtful virtue. His grouchiness led to 667 00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:29,280 Speaker 1: the passing of what became known as the Babbage Act, 668 00:42:29,719 --> 00:42:32,719 Speaker 1: which made it a crime for street musicians who interfered 669 00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:36,680 Speaker 1: with any citizens ordinary occupation. So, in other words, if 670 00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:39,040 Speaker 1: they didn't cut out that racket, and you couldn't get 671 00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:42,200 Speaker 1: any work done, you could call in the coppers and 672 00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:46,000 Speaker 1: they could get clapped for it. Nice guy, that Babbage. 673 00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:51,040 Speaker 1: He never finished his difference engine nor his analytical engine. 674 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:55,520 Speaker 1: He passed away on October eight, eight seventy one. While 675 00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:59,240 Speaker 1: he never saw either machine completed within his lifetime, others 676 00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:02,000 Speaker 1: would later take his designs and build their own versions 677 00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:06,160 Speaker 1: of the machine. His youngest son, Henry, managed to finish 678 00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:10,080 Speaker 1: a section of the second Difference Engine, and others would 679 00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:13,120 Speaker 1: build replicas of his designs much later on. You can 680 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:16,799 Speaker 1: find some in museums like the Computer History Museum. The 681 00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:20,560 Speaker 1: model's work complete with a working printer, and they are 682 00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:25,359 Speaker 1: all mechanical in operation. Babbage's life was one filled with 683 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:30,200 Speaker 1: incredible innovation and terrible loss. I always thought of him 684 00:43:30,239 --> 00:43:33,640 Speaker 1: as a really smart, sour puss, someone who is, you know, 685 00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:38,320 Speaker 1: really intelligent, but generally unlikable by most people. It was 686 00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:41,239 Speaker 1: only after reading a much more detailed biography of his 687 00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:43,960 Speaker 1: life and diving into his his past that I got 688 00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:48,120 Speaker 1: a deeper appreciation for the challenges he faced and those 689 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:51,960 Speaker 1: that he overcame. And I haven't covered all those challenges. 690 00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:54,600 Speaker 1: I haven't covered all of his accomplishments. I haven't covered 691 00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:57,960 Speaker 1: all the tragedy of his life. He invented other things 692 00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:01,360 Speaker 1: as well, like an ophthal muscope that's a medical device. 693 00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:04,520 Speaker 1: He did a lot in his lifetime. The fact that 694 00:44:04,560 --> 00:44:08,200 Speaker 1: Babbage did have close and lifelong friends tells me that 695 00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:12,200 Speaker 1: he wasn't nearly the ker mudgeon I originally thought him 696 00:44:12,239 --> 00:44:14,759 Speaker 1: to be, at least not throughout his entire life. He 697 00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:18,960 Speaker 1: certainly grew more grouchy as he aged, but considering the 698 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:23,560 Speaker 1: setbacks he experienced both personally and professionally, and those terrible 699 00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:27,640 Speaker 1: losses that he had endured, I think we should be 700 00:44:27,680 --> 00:44:30,160 Speaker 1: able to forgive him for that, and the fact that 701 00:44:30,200 --> 00:44:32,920 Speaker 1: he was more interested in seeing his work completed than 702 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:36,839 Speaker 1: getting an honorific title like a knighthood, says a lot 703 00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:41,440 Speaker 1: about his priorities and his character, and that wraps up 704 00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:45,839 Speaker 1: this look at Charles Babbage, a truly influential figure in 705 00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:49,359 Speaker 1: the history of technology. I will have to do, as 706 00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:53,319 Speaker 1: I said, more episodes about some of his contemporaries. Maybe 707 00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:56,920 Speaker 1: I'll do another one about Ada Lovelace. She again is 708 00:44:56,960 --> 00:45:01,000 Speaker 1: a fascinating person in her own right, and in fact, 709 00:45:01,239 --> 00:45:05,000 Speaker 1: we have Ada Lovelace Day to celebrate her work and 710 00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:09,480 Speaker 1: the inspiration she has given to two countless generations of 711 00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:14,480 Speaker 1: young women who themselves have become prolific coders. And a 712 00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:18,560 Speaker 1: lot of that was work that was foreseen by Ada Lovelace. 713 00:45:19,480 --> 00:45:22,600 Speaker 1: But that wraps up this episode. Let me know what 714 00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:26,040 Speaker 1: you think about what topics I should cover in future episodes. 715 00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:28,520 Speaker 1: You can reach out to me on Twitter. The handle 716 00:45:28,560 --> 00:45:31,239 Speaker 1: for the show is Text Stuff h s W. I 717 00:45:31,320 --> 00:45:33,520 Speaker 1: look forward to hearing from you, and I'll talk to 718 00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:42,080 Speaker 1: you again really Sick. Text Stuff is an I Heart 719 00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:45,920 Speaker 1: Radio production. For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit 720 00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:49,040 Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 721 00:45:49,080 --> 00:45:50,400 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.