BILL GATES SIGNATURE

THE BIRTH OF MICROSOFT

In December of 1974, Allen was on his way to visit Gates when along the way he stopped to browse the current magazines. What he saw changed his and Bill Gates's lives forever. On the cover of Popular Electronics was a picture of the Altair 8080 and the headline "World's First Microcomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models." He bought the issue and rushed over to Gates's dorm room. They both recognized this as their big opportunity. The two knew that the home computer market was about to explode and that someone would need to make software for the new machines. Within a few days, Gates had called MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), the makers of the Altair. He told the company that he and Allen had developed a BASIC that could be used on the Altair [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. This was a lie. They had not even written a line of code. They had neither an Altair nor the chip that ran the computer. The MITS company did not know this and was very interested in seeing their BASIC. So, Gates and Allen began working feverishly on the BASIC they had promised. The code for the program was left mostly up to Bill Gates while Paul Allen began working on a way to simulate the Altair with the schools PDP-10. Eight weeks later, the two felt their program was ready. Allen was to fly to MITS and show off their creation. The day after Allen arrived at MITS, it was time to test their BASIC. Entering the program into the company's Altair was the first time Allen had ever touched one. If the Altair simulation he designed or any of Gates's code was faulty, the demonstration would most likely have ended in failure. This was not the case, and the program worked perfectly the first time [Wallace, 1992, p. 80]. MITS arranged a deal with Gates and Allen to buy the rights to their BASIC.[Teamgates.com, 9/29/96] Gates was convinced that the software market had been born. Within a year, Bill Gates had dropped out of Harvard and Microsoft was formed.

BILL GATES-FAMILY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD

Family and Early Childhood

On October 28, 1955, shortly after 9:00 p.m., William Henry Gates III was born. He was born into a family with a rich history in business, politics, and community service. His great-grandfather had been a state legislator and mayor, his grandfather was the vice president of a national bank, and his father was a prominent lawyer. [Wallace, 1992, p. 8-9] Early on in life, it was apparent that Bill Gates inherited the ambition, intelligence, and competitive spirit that had helped his progenitors rise to the top in their chosen professions. In elementary school he quickly surpassed all of his peer's abilities in nearly all subjects, especially math and science. His parents recognized his intelligence and decided to enroll him in Lakeside, a private school known for its intense academic environment. This decision had far reaching effects on Bill Gates's life. For at Lakeside, Bill Gates was first introduced to computers.

First computing Experience

In the Spring of 1968, the Lakeside prep school decided that it should acquaint the student body with the world of computers [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. Computers were still too large and costly for the school to purchase its own. Instead, the school had a fund raiser and bought computer time on a DEC-PDP-10 owned by General Electric. A few thousand dollars were raised which the school figured would buy more than enough time to last into the next school year. However, Lakeside had drastically underestimated the allure this machine would have for a hand full of young students.

Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and a few other Lakeside students (many of whom were the first programmers hired at Microsoft) immediately became inseparable from the computer. They would stay in the computer room all day and night, writing programs, reading computer literature and anything else they could to learn about computing. Soon Gates and the others started running into problems with the faculty. Their homework was being turned in late (if at all), they were skipping classes to be in the computer room and worst of all, they had used up all of the schools computer time in just a few weeks. [Wallace, 1992, p. 24]

In the fall of 1968, Computer Center Corporation opened for business in Seattle. It was offering computing time at good rates, and one of the chief programmers working for the corporation had a child attending Lakeside. A deal was struck between Lakeside Prep School and the Computer Center Corporation that allowed the school to continue providing it's students with computer time. [Wallace, 1992, p. 27] Gates and his comrades immediately began exploring the contents of this new machine. It was not long before the young hackers started causing problems. They caused the system to crash several times and broke the computers security system. They even altered the files that recorded the amount of computer time they were using. They were caught and the Computer Center Corporation banned them from the system for several weeks.

Bill Gates, Paul Allen and, two other hackers from Lakeside formed the Lakeside Programmers Group in late 1968. They were determined to find a way to apply their computer skills in the real world. The first opportunity to do this was a direct result of their mischievous activity with the school's computer time. The Computer Center Corporation's business was beginning to suffer due to the systems weak security and the frequency that it crashed. Impressed with Gates and the other Lakeside computer addicts' previous assaults on their computer, the Computer Center Corporation decided to hire the students to find bugs and expose weaknesses in the computer system. In return for the Lakeside Programming Group's help, the Computer Center Corporation would give them unlimited computer time [Wallace, 1992, p. 27]. The boys could not refuse. Gates is quoted as saying "It was when we got free time at C-cubed (Computer Center Corporation) that we really got into computers. I mean, then I became hardcore. It was day and night" [Wallace, 1992, p. 30]. Although the group was hired just to find bugs, they also read any computer related material that the day shift had left behind. The young hackers would even pick employees for new information. It was here that Gates and Allen really began to develop the talents that would lead to the formation of Microsoft seven years later.

Roots of Business Career

Computer Center Corporation began to experience financial problems late in 1969. The company finally went out of business in March of 1970. The Lakeside Programmers Group had to find a new way to get computer time. Eventually they found a few computers on the University of Washington's campus where Allen's dad worked. The Lakeside Programmers Group began searching for new chances to apply their computer skills. Their first opportunity came early the next year when Information Sciences Inc. hired them to program a payroll program. Once again the group was given free computer time and for the first time, a source of income. ISI had agreed to give them royalties whenever it made money from any of the groups programs. As a result of the business deal signed with Information Sciences Inc., the group also had to become a legal business [Wallace, 1992, p. 42-43]. Gates and Allen's next project involved starting another company entirely on their own, Traf-O-Data. They produced a small computer which was used to help measure traffic flow. From the project they grossed around $20,000. The Traf-O-Data company lasted until Gates left for college. During Bill Gates' junior year at Lakeside, the administration offered him a job computerizing the school's scheduling system. Gates asked Allen to help with the project. He agreed and the following summer, they wrote the program. In his senior year, Gates and Allen continued looking for opportunities to use their skills and make some money. It was not long until they found this opportunity. The defense contractor TRW was having trouble with a bug infested computer similar to the one at Computer Center Corporation. TRW had learned of the experience the two had working on the Computer Center Corporation's system and offered Gates and Allen jobs. However thing would be different at TRW they would not be finding the bugs they would be in charge of fixing them. "It was at TRW that Gates began to develop as a serious programer," and it was there that Allen and Gates first started talking seriously about forming their own software company [Wallace, 1992, p. 49-51].

In the fall of 1973, Bill Gates left home for Harvard University [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. He had no idea what he wanted to study, so he enrolled as prelaw. Gates took the standard freshman courses with the exception of signing up for one of Harvard's toughest math courses. He did well but just as in high school, his heart was not in his studies. After locating the school's computer center, he lost himself in the world of computers once again. Gates would spend many long nights in front of the school's computer and the next days asleep in class. Paul Allen and Gates remained in close contact even with Bill away at school. They would often discuss ideas for future projects and the possibility of one day starting a business. At the end of Gates's first year at Harvard, the two decided that Allen should move closer to him so that they may be able to follow up on some of their ideas. That summer they both got jobs working for Honeywell [Wallace, 1992, p. 59]. As the summer dragged on, Allen began to push Bill harder with the idea that they should open a software company. Gates was still not sure enough to drop out of school. The following year, however, that would all change.

BILL GATES(CHAIRMAN OF MICRO SOFT) BIOGRAPHY

William (Bill) H. Gates is chairman of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft had revenues of US$51.12 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2007, and employs more than 78,000 people in 105 countries and regions.

On June 15, 2006, Microsoft announced that effective July 2008 Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. After July 2008 Gates will continue to serve as Microsoft’s chairman and an advisor on key development projects. The two-year transition process is to ensure that there is a smooth and orderly transfer of Gates’ daily responsibilities. Effective June 2006, Ray Ozzie has assumed Gates’ previous title as chief software architect and is working side by side with Gates on all technical architecture and product oversight responsibilities at Microsoft. Craig Mundie has assumed the new title of chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft and is working closely with Gates to assume his responsibility for the company’s research and incubation efforts.

Born on Oct. 28, 1955, Gates grew up in Seattle with his two sisters. Their father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent, and chairwoman of United Way International.

Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13.

In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's chief executive officer. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair.

In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Guided by a belief that the computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers. Gates' foresight and his vision for personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry.

Under Gates' leadership, Microsoft's mission has been to continually advance and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers. The company is committed to a long-term view, reflected in its investment of approximately $7.1 billion on research and development in the 2007 fiscal year.

In 1999, Gates wrote Business @ the Speed of Thought, a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in fundamentally new ways. The book was published in 25 languages and is available in more than 60 countries. Business @ the Speed of Thought has received wide critical acclaim, and was listed on the best-seller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com. Gates' previous book, The Road Ahead, published in 1995, held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times' bestseller list for seven weeks.

Top row: Steve Wood (left), Bob Wallace, Jim Lane. Middle row: Bob O'Rear, Bob Greenberg, Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin. Bottom row: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood, Paul Allen. December 7, 1978.

Gates has donated the proceeds of both books to non-profit organizations that support the use of technology in education and skills development.

In addition to his love of computers and software, Gates founded Corbis, which is developing one of the world's largest resources of visual information - a comprehensive digital archive of art and photography from public and private collections around the globe. He is also a member of the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which invests in companies engaged in diverse business activities.

Philanthropy is also important to Gates. He and his wife, Melinda, have endowed a foundation with more than $28.8 billion (as of January 2005) to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of global health and learning, with the hope that in the 21st century, advances in these critical areas will be available for all people. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed more than $3.6 billion to organizations working in global health; more than $2 billion to improve learning opportunities, including the Gates Library Initiative to bring computers, Internet Access and training to public libraries in low-income communities in the United States and Canada; more than $477 million to community projects in the Pacific Northwest; and more than $488 million to special projects and annual giving campaigns.

Gates was married on Jan. 1, 1994, to Melinda French Gates. They have three children. Gates is an avid reader, and enjoys playing golf and bridge.

COMPUTER INVENTOR

English mathematician Charles Babbage (1792–1871) designed a mechanical computing machine called the "analytical engine." It is considered the forerunner of the digital computer, a programmable electronic device that stores, retrieves, and processes data.

While attending Cambridge University in 1812, Babbage conceived of the idea of a machine that could calculate data more rapidly than existing computing methods, and without human error. The Industrial Revolution (a period of technological development; c. 1750–c. 1850) had been underway for more than half a century, and the world was becoming increasingly complex. Human errors in mathematical tables posed serious problems for many rapidly growing industries. After graduating from Cambridge, Babbage returned to the idea of developing a device to facilitate computation. Beginning work in 1834, he spent the rest of his life and much of his...

SIGNATURE OF CHARLES BABBAGE

PICTURE OF CHARLES BABBAGE

PAPERS ON BABAGE

Whiggism in the History of Science and the Study of the Life and Work of Charles Babbage

In a recent article in the Annals of the History of Computing (Vol. 10, 1988, p 171) I. Bernard Cohen raised the question of Whiggism in the study of the life and work of Charles Babbage. Although the question of Whiggism is of the greatest interest to the history of science more generally, it has hardly been discussed at all in connection with the history of computing. For 20th century computing Whiggism is perhaps a matter of less urgent concern, though it should be said that there has been comparatively little attempt to study modern computing against a more general historical background. When we turn to the 19th century, and particularly to Charles Babbage, the question of Whiggism insistently demands attention. Many articles and-- one is tempted to say--most comments about Babbage go widely astray because of their profoundly Whiggish approach.

By their very nature problems of Whiggishness can not be solved in general. They require, besides detailed study, the setting of each problem in its proper and many-sided historical context. Thus what one hopes to achieve in a general article is primarily to help in stating the problem.

First I consider what Whiggism is, then I have chosen some general historical questions to illustrate the subject. This seems essential because if specific questions relating directly to Babbage were posed in the first instance, consideration of the general problems would become inextricably involved with matters of detail. For reasons which I hope to make clear, Whiggism not only poses difficult conceptual problems, it also raises serious difficulties in connection with vested intellectual interests.

For general discussion I have chosen questions which are still controversial. To have taken a well established case, such as the 19th century idea that Giordano Bruno[1] was an early scientist, would hardly have sufficed. This is because dealing with Whiggism involves altering the whole way of looking at some subject, and it is one of Whiggism's curious features that once a new mode of thinking about some subject is established the old approach often comes to seem so absurd that one pauses to wonder how it was possible to hold such views. Nowadays no one would seriously think of Bruno, who was a hermeticist of the deepest Egyptian hue, as the prototype of a scientist; though he certainly had an important part in the history of science. By taking currently controversial questions I hope to illustrate how very difficult removing Whiggism can be.

The Whig interpretation of history was given its classic form by Lord Macaulay and other 19th century English historians mainly of Whig political persuasion. It pictured the history of mankind as a continued advance, albeit interrupted by periods of retreat, including the Dark Ages after the decline and fall of the Roman empire, at last reaching its apotheosis in the liberal ladies and gentlemen of Victorian England. To later historians such an approach has come to seem naive, even though some Whig historians were first rate. Whiggish history has two main features: it defines history in terms of an ideal result, rather than investigating how things actually happened; more generally it implies wrenching historical events from their actual historical context. In a sense the complete elimination of Whiggism is impossible. Perfectly neutral history is a meaningless concept. Every generation necessarily writes history in terms of current preconceptions, and as more is learned about any subject understanding of the historical context is gradually enriched. Thus today's `relevant historical context' is liable to become tomorrow's Whiggism. That does not, however, in any way alter the fact that a determined attempt to reduce or eliminate Whiggism is essential to improved historical understanding.

By the 1940s and 1950s Herbert Butterfield, Alexander Korye and others had come to feel strongly that the history of science was fundamentally Whiggish in character[2] and seriously distorted. So powerful was the image of modern science that historians of science were looking back and finding modern science in prototype where it never existed, and were claiming to discover early scientific procedures in historical work which actually had entirely different motivation. In the field of the history of science it is now generally agreed that Whiggism is naughty. However, a Whiggish approach may not be so easily avoided. In the first place it is not simple for someone who has developed a particular historical approach to alter it radically, so that intellectual vested interests may be involved. Then again a many-sided approach to a subject can mean people learning new and unfamiliar subjects, which can involve a great deal of work. For example computer scientists[3] are not always familiar with 18th and 19th century history. Indeed a historical approach may in itself be quite unfamiliar. In the case of Babbage the problem is exacerbated because of the widely varied nature of his interests. None the less, the historical aspects cannot be ignored even when reading other people's studies. Sometimes Babbage's work gives a spurious feeling of modernity so that computer scientists turning to Babbage, and concentrating overmuch on technical detail, not infrequently come to conclusions which may come to seem little more than silly as soon as the context of the work is taken properly into account.

In a sense the very term `the history of science' has itself profoundly Whiggish implications. One may be reasonably clear what `science' means in the 19th century and most of the 18th century. In the 17th century `science' has very different meaning. For example chemistry is inextricably mixed up with alchemy. Before the 17th century dissecting out such a thing as `science' in anything like the modern sense of the term involves profound distortions.

With the concept of `scientist' the case is even worse. The English term was not coined until 1840. It may, doubtfully, apply to some men of science in the second half of the 18th century, though it certainly does not apply to Charles Babbage.[4] For the 17th century the term `scientist' is thoroughly misleading. Nor is it easy to find accurate alternatives. Robert Boyle, for example, is often called a `mechanical philosopher', yet is the term really valid? Boyle was, and remained, an alchemist all his life.[5]

In classical Greece there were indeed doctors, mathematicians, astronomers, though Ptolemy for example was an astrologer as well as an astronomer. Scientists, in any meaningful sense of the term, were nonexistent in antiquity, though the term is all too often used. In my view, despite the caveats which often accompany its use, the term `scientist' when applied to the philosophers of antiquity is, in practice, seriously misleading.

Not only such general terms as `science' and `scientist' cause problems. In the history of science the whole language of discourse needs careful assessment. Consider, for example, the first philosophers of 6th century BC Milesia, that is to say the earliest individuals discussed in the history of science. The Milesians were engaged in taking tribal and immediately post-tribal beliefs, developing their inherited beliefs and giving them a new content. The very words used cannot be understood without considering their tribal background. Yet it is hard to find such questions even considered[6] since the work of Francis Cornford[7] and the Marxist historian George Thomson.[8]

To make a proper assessment of historical scientific developments it is necessary to take into account the general cultural milieu in which the developments took place. Joseph Needham has quoted approvingly the comment that Taoism was `the only system of mysticism, which the world has ever seen which was not profoundly anti-scientific.'[9] However, the same could also be said of Renaissance neoplatonism with its hermetic core, which also had a positive scientific content.[10] Many historians of science have been reluctant to acknowledge the positive part played in 16th and 17th century science by mystical neoplatonism, preferring to look for work which is `more scientific', `cool and rational', or whatever. Such a stance is profoundly Whiggish. For example the terms `mathematician' and `magician' were commonly synonymous in the 16th and early 17th century. Computer scientists straying into the early 17th century should tread carefully. This is very treacherous ground indeed.

A case can be made that the whole history of the scientific revolution needs to be reconsidered to take into account the central role of Renaissance neoplatonism. There had been an important Platonic tradition in Europe[11] which was not interrupted by the development of Aristotelian scholasticism in the 13th century. In the 15th century a new development was launched with the translation of the Corpus Hermeticum by Marsilio Ficino, and developed rapidly with the introduction of cabalistic traditions and the establishment of Christian Cabala by Pico della Mirandola. The ideas spread rapidly and profoundly affected the sciences. The case of Paracelsus has long been known but its importance was conveniently minimized by dismissing him as a charlatan in spite of his obvious enormous influence on medicine.[12] Hermeticism also influenced Copernicus, though how far his adoption of the heliocentric system was influenced by hermetic sun worship is still an entirely open question.[13] In England John Dee,[14] the founder of the English tradition of mathematical navigation, educator of the navigators, inspirer of the mathematical crafts, was a deeply hermetic figure. Jacobean audiences would have immediately recognised John Dee in Prospero when they saw The Tempest.

That Kepler was profoundly influenced by neoplatonism has long been clear, but so also was that sober minded leader of the scientific revolution, Galileo Galilei, who was the leading scientific figure of the neoplatonic Academia dei Lincei. Indeed a strong case has recently been made[15] that Galileo was not tried so much for his Copernican opinions as for his neoplatonic views on the nature of light and the substance of matter.

Although it is becoming quite clear that the picture of the scientific revolution needs fundamental reworking in the light of Renaissance neoplatonism, such suggestions often rouse strenuous opposition. In the first place people who have developed the views which have become standard in the last thirty or forty years, and which in their time represented a major advance in scholarship, are not always happy to see their work requiring fundamental revision. In the second place, as has been indicated above, study of Renaissance neoplalonism rapidly takes one into fields which are not the normal pastures of historians of science. To give one further example to emphasize this point, the Académie Baïf of 16th century Paris was certainly concerned with science but it is more commonly thought of as an academy of poetry.[16]

A great reaction look place in the 16th and early 17th century in both Protestant and Catholic Europe against neoplatonism, which became involved with the witch craze.[17] To be historically just it may be noted that, although the Roman Church and the Inquisition played a major part in later persecution, credit for launching the savage persecution probably goes to the Protestant clergy. Dramatically in England the reaction was represented by Marlow's Dr. Faustus.[18] The neoplatonists who represented the continuing tradition of Renaissance culture simply could not accept the fact that the Council of Trent had irretrievably cleft the soul of Europe in two, and neoplatonism acquired a deeply eirenic character. The neoplatonist current of the English Renaissance was represented not only by Spencer's Fairie Queen but by A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, and above all by The Tempest.[19] It is not always realised how bold Shakespeare was in writing The Tempest and presenting the play at prince Henry's court;[20] as also were his friends in placing The Tempest at the front of the first folio.

The reaction also had a most far reaching effect on the development of science. It was the climate of the martyrdom of Giordano Bruno, the roasting of Servetus, the torture and continued imprisonment of Campanella. It was surely also the background to Thomas Harriot's cri de coeur to Kepler: `our situation is such that I still can not philosophise freely; we are still stuck in the mud.'[21] Passing across the Alps, after the brief interlude during the 1620s of the `Marvelous Conjecture'[22] reaction reasserted itself and led to the trial of Galileo, which has come to symbolize for posterity the reaction against science.

The above examples should suffice to show into what wide fields one is led as soon as one begins to set science in its more general background, but the outstanding example is Isaac Newton. Looking backwards to Newton's calculus, to his whole mathematical method of approaching physical problems, Newton may seem modem enough. Was not Principia the very basis of physical science for nearly two centuries? In terms of Newton's own approach to his work, however, we get a very different picture. It is not only that he was deeply involved in prophetical studies, but Newton's alchemy[23] took up more of his time and interest than physical science, and alchemy--'the hermetic art'--profoundly affected Newton's whole approach to the theory of the structure of matter. In terms of his own motivation Newton was not at all the modern idea of a scientist, but the last and greatest of the Renaissance magi.

If we now turn to consider Charles Babbage the same three classes of problem appear: terminology, vested interests, and the great breadth of knowledge required. The Analytical Engines form a semantic minefield which can indeed be negotiated safely, but only if the problems are clearly identified. Although it is still early days, there is the beginning of a habit of discussing both the technical details of the Engines and of his other work out of context, and insistence that discussion of technical detail by itself rarely suffices is not always welcome. Finally, in solving these problems computer scientists, who have thus far shown most interest in Babbage, are faced with the need to study not only the work itself but also the science and technology of his time, his personal life, and the many historic fields into which his rich and varied life leads. To complicate matters further an important part of his life was concerned with the Continent, particularly with France, Italy and Prussia. It is certainly true that one is not here faced with such recondite subjects as tribal belief or Renaissance neoplatonism. However, I am not sure that it is greatly easier for a computer scientist, who may be entirely innocent of the habit of historical thought, to learn his way about late 18th and 19th century history than it is for a professional historian of science to tackle neoplatonism.

Discussion of the Analytical Engines poses semantic problems because of the many features they have in common with modem computers. These abstract features of logical organisation are almost impossible to discuss without using concepts which have been developed in modern computing. Such concepts as the stored program, programming, or array processing carry many implications to a modern computer person which may or may not in some measure have been clear to Babbage. Even to pose such a question as `Did Babbage consider the idea of using a set of registers or scratchpad store in his mill?' raises many problems.[24] Generally it seems more sensible to describe precisely what Babbage did, so far as possible in his own terms, rather than to set up skittles from modern computing and then knock them down. It is reasonable enough, for example, to see in Babbage's Engines the separate store and mill, but Babbage himself uses those terms. I have myself suggested that Babbage developed the concept of array processing,[25] but I use the term with considerable reservation. How far were the many associated ideas which array processing raises in the mind of a modern computer person clear to Babbage? With even more reservation I have discussed the question of how close Babbage came to the Concept of the stored program.[26] This was really unavoidable, if only because it has been discussed so often, but there can only be one possible genera! conclusion: we don' t know, and in the absence of much further information we never shall know.

Professor Cohen has discussed the question of whether Babbage developed the concept of a standard interface between programmer (if that is the right term) and Engine.[27] The period when one might expect to find indications of such a development is Babbage's work on the Analytical Engines between say 1840 and 1847, but there are good reasons why he might have hesitated before defining a formal standard interface even if he did develop the concept. It is not only that he had no real need of one at that stage, but he would probably have preferred to keep the greater flexibility which might have enabled him to save Engine time in particular operations. Perhaps this is also the reason why he seems to have kept his options open for the card control system itself. To the question of whether Babbage developed the concept of a formal standard interface, once again there can really only be one answer: we don't know.[28] Generally one must be very careful before drawing from the detailed plans insecurely founded conclusions about Babbage's general concepts.[29] During this period one can often see Babbage moving away from more general concepts in the detailed plans for Analytical Engines in the interest of practical efficiency. For example his original idea of binary-coded store addressing was abandoned in favour of the one hole per store address used in the variable cards.

To return to the circumstances surrounding the government sponsored project to construct the first Difference Engine, the point that needs to be emphasised is that Babbage's Engine was caught up in dramatic political events which altered fundamentally the political structure of England, and with it the government's approach to science. As Babbage had to deal with government ministers, and often directly with prime ministers (a very different matter from approaching the grant-awarding bodies of today), the Difference Engine project was directly affected by these political events.

The battle for the Great Reform Bill was by far the hardest fought political battle of 19th century Britain. The widest social classes were in action, not only in the towns and cities, including the radical middle classes and the City of London, but involving also the poor in the countryside.[30] To force through this fundamental shift in power from the landowners towards the new manufacturing classes, the landowners had to be assured that the Great Reform Act would not be followed by further radical political change. Introducing the Reform Bill in the Commons Lord John Russell assured the members that it was definitely the last change in the franchise; and he acquired the name `Finality Jack' for his pains.

However, the radicals thought that the Great Reform Act would indeed be a prelude to radical social reform, including backing for science. Thus Babbage was encouraged to hope for greatly increased support for his Engines and for many other scientific projects. The radicals were speedily disillusioned. Reaction set in very rapidly. During the first Melbourne administration lip service was still paid to the desirability of many changes. By the second Melbourne administration all pretence of further radical reform had vanished.

The 1830s witnessed a profound shift in the attitude of government, and of society as a whole towards science. Arnold of Rugby established the public school system[31] with its muscular Christianity and profoundly anti-scientific ethos. The point is not that before the 1830s support for science had been enthusiastic, but rather that science was seen merely as a fringe matter. With the growth of manufacturing, science and technology came to be seen as a terrible threat to the whole way of life of the country based gentleman. Similarly when the professional civil service was later established it too had a profoundly anti-scientific culture. The malign consequences of the developments have affected Britain to the present day.[32] Unfortunately we still want a really thorough analysis of the radical shift in attitudes towards science which occurred during the 1830s. What is certain is that no proper discussion of the fate of the project to construct the first Difference Engine is possible unless it is set against the turbulent contemporary political events.

Babbage studies are beginning to develop quite widely, and it is now time to raise them to a proper professional historical level.[33] This requires a determined assault on Whiggism in all its many manifestations.

I should like to offer my thanks to Prof. I. Bernard Cohen for suggesting this paper, which joins the many studies in the history of science owing their inception to Professor Cohen's encouragement.

R. Anthony Hyman

PUBLICATIONS BY BABBAGE

Based on Babbage's own list printed in Passages from the Life of a Philosopher, corrected by A. W. Van Sinderen (Annals of the History of Computing (1980), 2, no. 2, 169-85).We have followed Babbage in including articles which he directly inspired, even though he was not the nominal author.

1813

Memoirs of the Analytical Society; 1 Preface, in collaboration with John Herschel, i-xxii; 2 on Continued Products, 1-31, Cambridge.

1815

`An Essay Towards the Calculus of Functions', Phil. Trans. 105, 389 423.

1816

`An Essay Towards the Calculus of Functions', Part II, Phil. Trans. 106, 179-256.

`Demonstrations of Some of Dr. Matthew Stewart's General Theorems; To Which is Added, An Account of Some New Properties of the Circle', Journal of Science, 1, 6-24.

S. F. LaCroix, An Elementary Treatise on the Differential and Integral Calculus, Tr. Charles Babbage, John Herschel, and George Peacock, Cambridge, J. Deighton.

1817

`Observations on the Analogy Which Subsists Between the Calculus of Functions and the Other Branches of Analysis', Phil. Trans. 107, 197-216.

`Solutions of Some Problems by Means of the Calculus of Functions', Journal of Science, 2, 371-79.

`An Account of Euler's Method of Solving a Problem Relative to the Move of the Knight at the Game of Chess', Journal of Science, 3, 72-7.

`Note Respecting Elimination', Journal of Science, 3, 355-7.

1819

`On Some New Methods of Investigating the Sums of Several Classes of Infinite Series', Phil. Trans. X, 09, 249-82.

`Demonstration of a Theorem Relating to Prime Numbers', Edin. Phil. Jrl .1,46-9

1820

Examples to the Differential and Integral Calculus, in collaboration with John Herschel and George Peacock. Part 111, `Examples of the Solutions of Functional Equations', was by Babbage, Cambridge, J. Deighton.

1821

`An Examination of Some Questions Connected with Games of Chance', Trans. Roy Soc. I din. 9, 153-77.

1822

`Observations on the Notation Employed in the Calculus of Functions, Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc. 1, 63-76.

`Barometrical Observations Made at the Fall of the Staubbach', in collaboration with John Herschel, Edin. Phil. Jrl. 6, 224-7.

`A Note Respecting the Application of Machinery to the Calculation of Astronomical Tables', Mem. Astron. Soc. 1, 309.

`A Letter to Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. PRS, on the Application of Machinery to the Purpose of Calculating and Printing Mathematical Tables', J. Booth, London.

`Observations on the Application of Machinery to the Computation of Mathematical Tables', Mem. Astron. Soc. 1, 311-14.

1823

`On the Theoretical Principles of the Machinery for Calculating Tables', Edin. Phtl. Jrl. 8, 122-8.

`On the Application of Analysis to the Discovery of Local Theorems and Porisms', Trans. Roy. Son. Edin. 9, 337-52.

Scriptores Optici; or, A Collection of Tracts Relating to Optics, edited in collaboration with Francis Maseres; preface by Babbage. Baldwin, Craddock & Joy, London.

1824

`Observations on the Measurement of Heights by the Barometer', Edin. Jrl. Sci. 85-7.

`Rates of the Protector Life Assurance Company', privately printed, London.

1825

`Account of the Repetition of Mr. Arago's Experiments on the Magnetism Manifested by Various Substances During the Act of Rotation', in collaboration with John Herschel, Phil. Trans. 115, 467-96.

1826

`On a New Zenith Micrometer', Mem. Astron. Soc. 2, 101-3.

A Comparative View of the Various Institutions for the Assurance of Lives, J. Mawman, London.

`On a Method of Expressing by Signs the Action of Machinery', Phil. Trans. 116, 250-65.

`On Electrical and Magnetic Rotations', Phil. Trans. 116, 494-528.

`On the Determination of the General Term of a New Class of Infinite Series', Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc. 2, 217-25.

`Diving Bell', Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, 18, 157 -67.

1827

`On the Influence of Signs in Mathematical Reasoning', Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc. 2, 325-77-

`Notice respecting some Errors Common to many Tables of Logarithms', Mem. Astron. Soc. 3, 65-7.

`Evidence on Savings Banks, before a Committee of the House of Commons', Reports from the Committees of the House of Commons, III, 1826-7, 869-558.

Table of Logarithms of the Natural Numbers from 1 to 108000, J. Mawman, London.

1829

`Account of the Great Congress of Philosophers at Berlin on the 18th September 1828', Edin. Jrl. Sci. 10, 225-34.

`A Letter to the Right Hon. T. P. Courtenay, on the Proportionate Number of Births of the Two Sexes under Different Circumstances', Edin. Jrl. Sci. NS, 1, 85-104.

`On the General Principles which Regulate the Application of Machinery to Manufacture and the Mechanical Arts', Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, 8, 1-84.

1830

`Notation', Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, 15, 394-9.

`Porisms', op. cit.,17, 106-14.

Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and some of its Causes, (dedicated to `a nobleman', probably Lord Ashley, later Earl of Shaftesbury) B. Fellowes, London.

Sketch of the Philosophical Characters of Dr. Wollaston and Sir Humphry Davy, B. Fellowes, London.

`Mathematical Questions,' Mathematical Repository, New Series, 5, 51, 63-4, 66-7, 71-2, 178-80.

1831

`Sur l'emploi plus ou moins frequent des memes lettres dans les differentes langues', (in a letter to L. A. J. Quetelet), Corr. mathematique et physique, 7, 135-7

Specimen of Logarithm Tables (21 vols.): two pages from Babbage's edition of the logarithmic tables printed in many different coloured inks on many different colours and shades of paper - a single copy was printed (now in the Crawford Library), B. Fellowes, London.

Table of Logarithms of the Natural Numbers from 1-108,000, on Different Coloured Papers, single copy printed (28 volumes are now in the Crawford Library. Babbage said 35 were originally printed), B. Fellowes, London.

1832

`On the Advantage of a collection of Numbers, to be Entitled the Constants of Nature and Art', Edin. Jrl. Sci. NS6, 334-40. (Expanded versions of this paper were later published in: Compte Rends des Travaux du Congres General de Statistique, 1835, 222-30, Bruxelles; and The Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, 1856, 289-302).

On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, Charles Knight, London. A second and third edition were published in 1832, and a fourth edition with index in 1835; translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and Swedish. (In 1833 three chapters were published as a pamphlet, On Currency, on a Near System of Manufacturing, and on the Effect of Machinery on Human Labour, Charles Knight, London; a further extract was published in 1899 as How to Invent Machinery, ed. William H. Atherton, Manchester.)

1833

A Word to the Wise, John Murray, London. (reprinted in 1856 and subtitled: Observations on Peerage for Life.)

1834

Abstract of a Paper Entitled: `Observations on the Temple of Serapis at Pozzuoli; with Remarks on Certain Causes which May Produce Geological Cycles of Great Extent' (full paper published in 1847), Richard Taylor, London.

1835

`Une lettre a M. Quetelet de M. Ch. Babbage relativement a la machine a calculer', . Acad. Roy. Bruxelles, Bulletins, 2, 123-6.

`Letter from Mr. A. Sharp to Mr. J. Crosthwait, Hoxton, Feb. 2, 1721-2, Decyphered by C. Babbage, Esq. From the Original Letter in Shorthand'; in An Account of the Revd John Flamsteed, the First Astronomer-Royal, 348, by Francis Baily, Admiralty, London.

1837

The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise; A Fragment, John Murray, London. 2nd. ed. 1838.

`On the Mathematical Powers of the Calculating Engine' (Ms. in Museum of History of Science, Oxford); published 1973, Brian Randell (ed), The Origins of Digital Computers, 17-52, Springer.

1838

`On Impressions in Sandstone Resembling Those of Horses' Hoofs', Proc. Geol Soc. 2, 439.

1839

`Letter from Mr. Babbage to the Members of the British Association for the Promotion of Science', Richard Clay, London.

1842-3

`Notions sur la Machine Analytique de M. Charles Babbage' (by L. F. Menabrea), Bibliotheque Universelle de Geneve, 41, 352-76; tr. with additional notes by Ada Lovelace as `Sketch of the Analytical Engine', (1843) Scientific Memoirs, iii, 666-731. (On page 373 of the Menabrea paper le cas n = [infinity], was misprinted as le cos n = [infinity]. Ada translated this as `when the cos of n = [infinity]`, which is nonsense.).

1843

`Statement of the Circumstances Respecting Mr. Babbage's Calculating Engines' (by Sir Harris Nicolas), privately printed, London.

`Statement of the Circumstances attending the Invention and Construction of Mr. Babbage's Calculating Engines', Phil. Mag. 23, 234-5.

`Addition to the Memoir of M. Menabrea on the Analytical Engine', Ibid, 235-9.

`Description of the Boracic Acid Works of Tuscany'; Handbook for Travellers in Central Italy, 178-9, John Murray, London.

1847

`On the Principles of Tools for Turning and Planing Metals'; in Turning and Mechanical Manipulation, by Charles Holtzapffel, 2, 984-7, Holtzapffel, London.

`Observations on the Temple of Serapis at Pozzuoli, Near Naples', Taylor, London.

`The Planet Neptune and the Royal Astronomical Society's Medal', The Times, 15 March.

1848

Thoughts on the Principles of Taxation with Reference to a Property Tax, and its Exceptions, John Murray, London. 2nd ed.1851; 3rd ed. 1852.

1851

`Laws of Mechanical Notation', privately printed, London.

The Exposition of 1851; or Views of the Industry, the Science, and the Government o/England, John Murray, London.2nd ed. 1851.

`Notes Respecting lighthouses', privately printed, London.

1852

`Note Respecting the Pink Projections from the Sun's Disc Observed during the Total Solar Eclipse in 1851', Monthly Notices Astron. Soc. 12, 209-10.

1853

`On the Statistics of Lighthouses', Compte Rends des travaux du Congres Generals de Slatistique, 230-7, Bruxelles.

1854

`Report on the Opthalmoscope', (by T. Wharton Jones), British and Foreign Medical Rev. 14, 425-32.

`Mr. Thwaites's Cypher', Jrl. Soc. Arts, 90, 663-4, 93, 707-8, 95, 732-3, 98, 776-7.

1855

`Submarine Navigation', Illustrated London News, 749, 623-4.

`On the Possible Use of the Occulting Telegraph at Sebastapol', The Times, 16 July, 6 f

`A Method of Laying the Guns of a Battery Without Exposing the Men to the Shot of the Enemy', Illustrated London News, no.757, 210.

`Sur la machine suedoise de MM. Scheutz pour calculer les tables mathematiques', Comptes rendus hebdomadaires, 41, 557-60, Academie des Sciences, Paris.

`Cypher Writing', Jrl. Soc. Arts, 159, 40-1.

1856

`Scheutz's Difference Engine and Babbage's Mechanical Notation' (by Henry Babbage), Proc. Inst. Civil Eng. 15, 497-514. Also published as separate pamphlet.

`On the Action of Ocean Currents in the Formation of the Strata of the Earth', Quart. Jrl. Geol. Soc. 12, 366-8.

`Analysis of the Statistics of the Clearing House During the Year 1839', Jrl. Stat. Soc. 19, 28-48. Also published as a separate pamphlet.

Observations Addressed at the Last anniversary to the President and Fellows o/'the Royal Society, John Murray, London.

1857

`Table of the Relative Frequency of Occurrence of the Causes of Breaking of Plate Glass Windows', Mechanics Mag. 66, 82.

1860

`Observations on the Discovery in Various Localities of the Remains of Human Art Mixed with the Bones of Extinct Races of Animals', Proc. Roy. Soc. 10, 59-72.

`On Easily Recognisable Signs in Drawings', Proc. Fourth International Statistical Congress, 380, London.

`Letter to Dr. Farr, on the Origin of the International Statistical Congresses', Proc. Fourth International Statistical Congress, 505-7, London.

1864

Passages on the Life of a Philosopher, Longman, Green, London. (`A Chapter on Street Nuisances' was published by John Murray prior to publication of the book.)

1865

Thoughts upon an Extension of the Franchise, Longman, Green, London.

1868

`Observations on the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy', Quart. Jrl. Geol. Soc. 24, 273-7.

(1889)

`History of the Analytical Engine' (incomplete), published posthumously with additions by Henry Prevost Babbage as Babbage's Calculating Engines, Spon, London.

FRIENDS OF BABBAGE

Herschel, Sir John Frederisck William,

member of the Analytical Society, and close friend of Babbage for many years

Peacock, Revd. George,

member of the Analyical Society and close friend of Babbage for may years.

BABAGE FAMILY

Babbage, Benjamin, Sr.,

was Babbages grandfather, and mayor of Totnes

Babbage, Benjamin,

Babbage`s father, merchant and banker.

Babbage, Benjamin Herschel,

Babbage`s eldest son, always known as Herschel.

Babbage, Elizabeth Plumleigh (née Teape),

Babbage`s mother.

Babbage, Georgiana (née Whitmore),

Babbage`s wife.

Babbage, Georgiana,

Babbage`s daughter.

Babbage, Major General Henry Prevost,

Babbage`s youngest surviving son.
Memoirs and Correspondence, privately printed, London, 1910.

Babbage, John,

Babbage`s great-grandfather.

Babbage, Dr. John,

Babbage`s Uncle.

Babbage, Mary Anne (later Hollier),

Babbage`s sister.
Babbage, John Herchel and Sir John Josiah Guest (the great steel master) were trustees for Mary Anne Hollier's marriage settlement.

CHARLES BABBAGE BIO GRAPHY

Charles Babbage (1791-1871)

Charles Babbage was one of the key figures of a great era of British history. Born as the industrial revolution was getting into its swing, by the time Babbage died Britain was by far the most industrialized country the world had ever seen. Babbage played a crucial rôle in the scientific and technical development of the period.

Although born in London, Babbage came from an old Totnes family, and retained close links with the region all his life. The West Country, with its mining and engineering was particularly important in the early stages of the industrial revolution, and from the extraordinarily wealthy Totnes region, with its port at Dartmouth, came also Newcomen and Savery, pioneers of the steam engine.

Babbage went up to Cambridge in 1810 and with some friends effected the crucial introduction of the Leibnitz notation for the calculus, which transformed mathematics in Cambridge and thus throughout Britain.

In 1814 Babbage married Georgiana Whitmore, from a landowning Shropshire family. Her half brother, Wolryche Whitmore, was the M.P. who rose year after year in the House of Commons to move the repeal of the Corn Laws. He was also a leading member of the Political Economy Club, and played an important part in Babbage's life.

Babbage's greatest achievement was his detailed plans for Calculating Engines, both the table-making Difference Engines and the far more ambitious Analytical Engines, which were flexible and powerful, punched-card controlled general purpose calculaters, embodying many features which later reappeared in the modern stored program computer. These features included: punched card control; separate store and mill; a set of internal registers (the table axes); fast multiplier/divider; a range of peripherals; even array processing.

It has often been asked whether Babbage's Engines would have worked if they had been built. This may not be an entirely meaningful question: much can go wrong during such a project, while on the other hand new solutions may be found to any problems which might appear during construction. However the question can be put slightly differently: would it have been technically feasible for, say, Babbage and Whitworth to construct an Analytical Engine during the 1850s?

Twenty five years ago, after a careful investigation, Anthony Hyman and the late Maurice Trask formed the opinion that construction of Babbage's Engines would have been quite possible. The problems were financial and organizational, but technically the project in itself was perfectly feasible. They proposed a plan. :first construct DE2 (the Second Difference Engine; then, if wished DE1, or a version of DE2 with `travelling platforms'; and finally a complete Analytical Engine, probably following plan 28A.

After much work by many people, and particularly by Dr. Allan Bromley, a team at the Science Museum led by Doron Swade built a complete version of DE2. It was a triumphant success, vindicating Babbage's technical work. However, the far more ambitious task of constructing an Analytical Engine remains to be undertaken.

Besides the Calculating Engines Babbage has an extraordinary range of achievements to his credit: he wrote a consumer guide to life assurance; pioneered lighthouse signalling; scattered technical ideas and inventions in magnificent profusion; developed mathematical codebreaking (Prof. Franksen has plausibly suggested that Babbage ran a private Bletchley Park for the British government in the middle of the +19th century).

Babbage was also an important political economist. Where Adam Smith thought agriculture was the foundation of a nation's wealth; where Ricardo's ideas were focused on corn: Babbage for the first time authoritatively placed the factory on centre stage. Babbage gave a highly original discussion of the division of labour, which was followed by John Stuart Mill. Babbage's discussion of the effect of the development of production technology on the size of factories was taken up by Marx, and was fundamental to Marxist theory of capitalist socio-economic development. A case can also be made that Babbage had an influence on William Stanley Jevons, and was thus also a pioneer of marginal value theory. However, the latter remains to be proved.

For twenty five years Charles Babbage was a leading figure in London society, and his glorious Saturday evening soirées, attended by two or three hundred people, were a meeting place for Europe's liberal intelligencia.

Further references

Charles Babbage, Pioneer of the Computer (1982),

Princeton/Oxford University Press, by Anthony Hyman,
is the standard biography of Babbage.

Science and Reform, Selected works of Charles Babbage, (1989),

with commentary and notes, Cambridge University Press, by Anthony Hyman, (in print);
complements Pioneer of the Computer, treating in detail aspects of Babbages work which were treated more cursorarily in the latter, and vice versa.
Together they give a clear and coherent introduction to Babbage`s life and work.