Charles Babbage: A brief overview of his life and work Derived from an STAS 201 term paper by Vladimir Sedach Charles Babbage, most famous for his calculating Engines, was also a prominent scientist in most of the major scientific fields of his day. He, perhaps more than any of his contemporaries, was one of the major influences in the application of science to the processes of the industrial revolution. Babbage was born in 1791, "as the industrial revolution was gathering momentum" ([1]Hyman, 1982), to the family of a wealthy banker residing near London. After a typical education of the time at Totnes Grammar School, Babbage was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1810. Babbage first acquired an interest in mathematics when a tutor at Totnes introduced him to the book Young Mathematicians' Guide by John Ward ([2]Buxton, 1988), and had great hopes of receiving thorough mathematical instruction at Cambridge. The first time Babbage approached his tutor with a mathematical dilemma, the tutor "dismissed the question", on the grounds that "it would not be asked in the examinations." ([3]Hyman, 1982) After receiving similar answers from other instructors he had approached with his many questions, he quickly found his hopes disappointed and resorted instead to reading the works of continental European mathematicians. During his studies at Cambridge, Babbage kept many friends and socialized widely among various groups. There he met his lifelong friend and scientific partner John Herschel, "one of the nineteenth century's leading astronomers" ([4]Hyman, 1982). With Herschel and several other mathematically inclined friends, Babbage formed The Analytical Society, the first of the many scientific societies Babbage would be involved in. The Analytical Society would later play the primary role in helping to popularize Leibnitz's Calculus notation in Cambridge, which at the time had the model British university mathematical education, and "was the centre of Newtonian scholarship" ([5]Hyman, 1982). Babbage was quick to realize the inadequacy of Newton's notation from his wide reading of both Continental and British mathematical works, and was a major promoter of it at Cambridge. At this time, Babbage also took an interest in chemistry, going so far as to set up his own laboratory in a spare room. From Herschel he acquired an interest in astronomy, and would continue to study the subject. During the summer vacation of 1811, Charles met Georgiana Whitmore, whom he would later marry. Through Georgiana's family, Charles became acquainted with Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon's younger brother, who was then living in exile in England. From Lucien, Charles acquired a lifelong appreciation for the political and scientific ideals of the French republic, and afterwards he would be regarded as a "moderate radical" ([6]Hyman, 1982) in his political views. After graduating from Cambridge in 1813, Charles married Georgiana, which lead to a quarrel with his father. Georgiana came from a fairly wealthy family, and possessed substantial personal funds; combined with an annual sum that his father had promised him before and continued to provide after their argument, Babbage was able to live comfortably in London and pursue his own interests. Charles quickly became involved in scientific circles, and was soon invited to give a set of lectures on astronomy at the Royal Institution, which proved to be very popular. Most of Babbage's mathematical work was done during this period. He published many novel papers on algebra and the theory of functions, and

was made a member of the Royal Society in 1816. To promote Leibnitz's notation, Charles published translations of LaCroix's books on calculus. During that same time, Babbage published An examination of some questions connected with games of chance, which foreshadowed the development of game theory by nearly a century; later, Babbage and Ada Byron, countess of Lovelace (a friend and major contributor to the design of the Engines) would use one of the first prototypes of the Difference Engine to compute models for horse race outcomes (none of them were accurate)[7][1] ([8]Rheingold, 2000). While residing in Rome for a time in 1927, Charles was surprised to learn that he was elected Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from a newspaper article he happened upon by chance. Babbage, being a very practical and humble scientist when it came to honors and rewards, wanted to refuse the appointment since it would interfere with his work on the Difference Engine. Realizing that refusal would be rude towards the friends that had helped elect him, he accepted the post and held it for a decade, until his work on the Engines left him no time for it. Perhaps less consequentially, Babbage enjoyed experimenting with all manner of cryptography in his spare time, but did not publish any papers on the subject.[9][2] Although Babbage's interest in chemistry waned after his graduation from Cambridge, partly because he found it too expensive to maintain a laboratory, he did take up the study of geology. Babbage planned a geological tour of Devon and Cornwall with Adam Sedgwick, but "university duties prevented Sedgwick from going." ([10]Hyman, 1982). He later made a similar tour with Herschel. Babbage was friends with Charles Lyell, and made a visit to the temple of Serapis in Pozzuoli in 1827, where he made estimates of the sea level by observing the strata on the columns, and took samples. Later, he would have Professor E. Forbes identify the sea shells and Michael Faraday analyze the chemicals from those samples. Based on the findings, Babbage presented a paper to the Geological Society "with a theory of the movement of isothermal surfaces within the earth" ([11]Hyman, 1982). On a smaller time scale, Babbage "was the first to propose that the weather of past years could be discovered by observing cycles of tree rings" ([12]Rheingold, 2000). During his life, Babbage made many fruitful tours of, and visits to, Continental Europe. The first such one was in 1819, where Babbage was accompanied by Herschel to France. There they met many prominent French scientists, including Laplace, Fourier, Dominique Arago, and Berthollet, and through them Charles became closely associated with the Arcueil Society ([13]Hyman, 1982). During his visits, Babbage noted the difference in scientific and technical education between the French and Prussian models, which were largely based on the methods of the Ecole Polytechnique, and the relatively lacking Cambridge model he had himself experienced in Britain. This strengthened his resolve to "introduce French concepts of scientific organization into England" ([14]Hyman, 1982). Babbage's plans for reorganization included the Royal Society, which at the time was perceived to have too many idle members and did not do enough scientific work. Babbage was enthusiastic about forming scientific societies whose sole focus would be a particular discipline of science, in contrast to the Royal Society's all encompassing goals. Babbage and his friends were involved in the creation of two such early societies, the Cambridge Philosophical Society and the Astronomical Society, both of which the president of the Royal Society objected to and perceived as a threat. After Babbage's attempts to elect a reform

candidate to the Royal Society presidency failed, he resigned from membership and made a wider appeal by publishing Reflections upon the Decline of Science in 1830, a book about the low scientific standards in English education and scientific societies. At this time, Parliamentary reform was sweeping British politics, and Babbage decided to become active in politics. Inspired by the social unrest behind the reform movement, and his industrial experience, he would also propose a novel scheme of profit sharing in industrial workplaces that would later (along with On the Economy) influence John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx. Although from his early years it is apparent that Babbage was fascinated with mechanical contraptions, his first professional mechanical endeavor (that would later lead to his fascination with industry) was prompted by a problem in the pure sciences. Babbage and Herschel were tasked by the Astronomical Society to prepare some tables, and hired several computers (in the old meaning of the term, of course) to perform the drudge work. Upon finding discrepancies and errors (which were a familiar sight to Babbage who used such tables frequently for his mathematical work), he suggested to Herschel "the wish, that we could calculate by steam" ([15]Hyman, 1982). On one of his trips to France, Charles was introduced to the great logarithmic and trigonometric tables[16][3] of de Prony and the methods used to compile them. de Prony happened upon a copy of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, and implemented Smith's ideas of division of labor to streamline the process (no doubt this was also a great influence on Babbage's work in operational analysis). Babbage seized the idea and sketched out his initial plans for an automated table calculator in an unoccupied evening. Work on the Difference, and later the more advanced Analytical Engines would continue for the rest of his life. The Difference Engines were supposed to remove the need for human interaction in the calculation process to eliminate those errors caused by humans. This included printing the tables (as mistakes made by typesetters were very common). The sheer scope and amount of mechanics in the Difference Engine meant that Babbage had to make an extensive study of machines employed in the industry, and this (like most of his work) he did in thorough detail: "touring the country ... inspecting every machine, every industrial process he could discover." ([17]Hyman, 1982). Babbage toured factories both in Great Britain and in his travels to the Continent, and soon gained fame for his insight and knowledge among mechanics. Once again, the ugly beast of inadequate notation reared it's head in the form of machine diagrams, and this time Babbage invented his own mechanical notation system for the use on the Engines, which eventually became "was the most powerful formal method for describing switching systems until Boolean algebra ... in the middle of the twentieth century"[18][4] ([19]Hyman, 1982). Fascinated by everything relating to manufacture, Babbage's factory tours drew his attention to the economic and organizational problems of industry. He turned his observations on the subject into the seminal book On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, published in 1832. Besides being the first ever treatise on what is now known as operational analysis, On the Economy was the first major economic work to attribute industry as the key economic growth vehicle for England. Besides, the work was intended to influence government policy on the question of industry, science and technical education, "the union of scientific theory and industrial practice." ([20]Hyman, 1982) Later, Babbage would use this experience to successfully lobby for a flat rate postage system.

In the mid-1820s, with his family growing, Babbage felt a need to expand his income. He was invited by several insurance companies into high-ranking organizational spots, but after one of the ventures didn't work out Babbage had had enough of compiling actuarial tables and decided to go back to living on his regular family income. This was Babbage's first exposure to actuarial calculations, and he continued to study the subject in his spare time. He would later publish a popular guide to the various practices and methods of the insurance industry, titled A Comparative View of the Various Institutions for the Assurance of Lives. Babbage was also the founder of the London Statistical Society, which included many prominent economists as members. The publication of On the Economy, combined with Babbage's experience in insurance and more general statistics, earned him the reputation of a competent political economist, and he was highly regarded by the members of the Political Economy Club. Later, Babbage would become fascinated with the monetary system, and successfully apply statistical techniques to analyze the circulation of money, publishing his results in a widely read pamphlet. During the Parliamentary reform movement, Charles would use his political influence to advocate a French Republic-inspired decimal coinage system. Babbage, with his mechanical ingenuity, made many important marks upon the industries of England. The famous anecdotal story is of course his invention of the "cowcatcher," which he suggested to an engineer of the railway company at the opening of the Manchester-Liverpool railway.[21][5] His often ignored, but far more consequential contribution to British railways was the wide gauge railroad. Babbage was friends with British engineer and entrepreneur Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who would later become one of the two leading railroad tycoons in Britain, and helped Brunel secure his first railway contract (which did not pan out). Later, when Brunel secured the contract for the Great Western Railway, Babbage became the chief supporter of Brunel's decision to adopt the seven foot gauge, which faced considerable opposition from everyone else involved in the project. After completing a thorough series of experiments and surveys, Babbage single-handedly convinced the proprietors of the Great Western Railway to adopt the wider gauge. Babbage didn't patent the cowcatcher[22][6], and due to a conflict of interest Brunel could not reward him monetarily for his railway gauge studies. Like much of Babbage's work, his industrial practice was done mostly out of curiosity. Babbage was also interested in machine shop practice and techniques. On his European tours, he would disseminate the novel methods he discovered among the machine shops he visited. He had an extensive private workshop built for the construction of the Engine, and experimented with various manufacturing techniques. Babbage's Engines required components of precision and tolerances better than any clockmakers of the time could manage, so he inadvertently ended up advancing the state of the art in precision mechanical manufacturing; most significantly he "pioneered the use of diamond-tipped tools in precision-lathing" ([23]Rheingold, 2000). When examining Babbage's career as a scientist, it is important to remember the points reiterated throughout this essay - he was motivated primarily by curiosity. Having an independent income, he pursued whatever research interested him. Charles Babbage shared his discoveries openly with everyone[24][7], preferring not to patent his

inventions or squabble over credit. He very much believed in the idea of universality - his closest partner in the development of the Engines was a woman (the aforementioned Ada, countess of Lovelace), and he would collaborate with people of any social rank on scientific matters (his own social circle included everyone from the King of Spain and the Bonaparte family down to the common shopworker). Babbage held scientific work to the highest standards, and could not tolerate banality or misinformation. One thing that Charles was not, however, is disinterested, particularly when it came to his life's work. After a period of disappointing lack of progress on the Difference Engine (which he persuaded the Parliament to sponsor), he, "never one to shy away from conflict with unbelievers over one of his cherished ideas, feuded over the Difference Engine with the government and with his contemporaries, many of whom began to make sport of mad old Charley Babbage" ([25]Rheingold, 2000). Both the range and depth of Babbage's contributions to science and technology are remarkable, and had a great impact during his own lifetime. His political views, inspired by the reforms of the French Republic, resulted him in speaking for the greater promotion of science within the British educational system and government. While he achieved some success in these areas (most notably the promotion of Leibnitz's calculus notation and the application of operational analysis to the British post), his reforms failed in others (the British government and industrialists took no interest in his schemes for reforming technical education or his worker profit sharing system - Britain's industry would begin to fall behind that of Germany within Babbage's lifetime, and workers' strife would continue to plague Britain and the rest of Europe). Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian, who had visited Babbage on several occasions and was familiar with his work, described Babbage's most profound effect as a man of science in a single fitting sentence: "He more, perhaps, than any man who ever lived, narrowed the chasm [separating] science and practical mechanics" ([26]Hyman, 1982). __________________________________________________________________ Footnotes [1] Surprisingly, the fascination with gambling seems to be a pattern in computer pioneers. Inspired by poker, John Von Neumann became the first to establish game theory as a mathematical field. Edward O. Thorp and Claude Shannon developed the first wearable computer to cheat at roulette ([27]http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/graphics/courses/mobwear/resources/tho rp-iswc98.pdf). [2] It would be a long time before cryptography became considered a subject of scientific interest. Babbage himself regarded it just as a diversion. [3] Commissioned by the French Republic to celebrate the decimal system, they were at the time "the most monumental work of calculation ever carried out or even conceived" ([28]Hyman, 1982). [4] Claude Shannon was the first person to apply Boolean algebra to the analysis of telephone relay switching circuits and to show that the same switching circuits could be used to solve problems in Boolean algebra in his 1937 MIT master's thesis. [5] One of the first trans-city railways to be built at a time when

railroads were a very novel technology, the opening was a grand social occasion, and the site of the first railway fatality. [6] Indeed, it seems that Babbage never patented any of his inventions, which also included "the first speedometer for railroads" ([29]Rheingold, 2000). [7] There is a single notable exception - Babbage, in his study of mechanical contraptions, wrote a detailed paper on all manner of lock mechanisms. Fearing that it would become a lockpick's manual, he refrained from publishing. __________________________________________________________________ Bibliography Buxton, H.W., Memoir of the Life and Labours of the Late Charles Babbage Esq. F.R.S, The MIT Press, 1988. Hyman, R.A., Charles Babbage, Princeton University Press, 1982. Rheingold, Howard, Tools for Thought: The History and Future of Mind-Expanding Technology, 2nd Revised edition, The MIT Press, 2000. Also available online: [30]http://www.rheingold.com/texts/tft/.