Article of the Month – August 2021
August 1, 2021Switzerland
September 1, 20211818-1859
From 1818 to 1859, story of Frankenstein and the concept of programmable mechanical calculating machines...
1818: Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, a story by Mary Shelley, is considered an early illustration of science fiction. “His limbs were in proportion, and his features were beautiful,” Shelley said about Frankenstein’s monster, an 8-foot-tall (2.4-meter) beast of hideous contrasts. “His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets (…).” In the 1831 edition, there was a drawing of the creature. In early depictions, he wore a toga shaded the same light blue as the monster’s eyes. According to the artist, the monster’s image changed throughout the nineteenth century.(1)
1822-1859: Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace worked on electronic calculating machines that could be programmed. Charles Babbage was an English mechanical engineer, mathematician, and inventor who introduced the digital programmable computer concept. Babbage, dubbed the “Father of the Machine” by some, is credited with developing the first mechanical computer, which paved the way for more complex electronic designs. Babbage’s Analytical Engine incorporated all the essential ideas found in modern computers. He began to construct the Engine in 1819 and completed it by 1822. He announced his invention on June 14, 1822, in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society, entitled “Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables.”(2,3)
Charles Babbage
1822-1859: Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace worked on electronic calculating machines that could be programmed. Charles Babbage was an English mechanical engineer, mathematician, and inventor who introduced the digital programmable computer concept. Babbage, dubbed the “Father of the Machine” by some, is credited with developing the first mechanical computer, which paved the way for more complex electronic designs. Babbage’s Analytical Engine incorporated all the essential ideas found in modern computers. He began to construct the Engine in 1819 and completed it by 1822. He announced his invention on June 14, 1822, in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society, entitled “Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables.”(2,3)
Charles Babbage
Babbage was invited to speak about his Analytical Engine at the University of Turin in 1840. Babbage’s lecture was transcribed into French by Luigi Menabrea, a young Italian engineer, and published in the Bibliothèque Universelle de Genève in October 1842. Babbage’s friend Charles Wheatstone commissioned Ada Lovelace to translate Menabrea’s writing into English. She then augmented the paper with notes that added to the translation.(2,3)
Ada Lovelace worked on this for over a year with Babbage’s support. More detailed than Menabrea’s article, these notes were then published in Taylor’s Scientific Memoirs in September 1843 under the initials AAL.(2,3)
Babbage was invited to speak about his Analytical Engine at the University of Turin in 1840. Babbage’s lecture was transcribed into French by Luigi Menabrea, a young Italian engineer, and published in the Bibliothèque Universelle de Genève in October 1842. Babbage’s friend Charles Wheatstone commissioned Ada Lovelace to translate Menabrea’s writing into English. She then augmented the paper with notes that added to the translation. Ada Lovelace worked on this for over a year with Babbage’s support. More detailed than Menabrea’s article, these notes were then published in Taylor’s Scientific Memoirs in September 1843 under the initials AAL.(2,3)
Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace