Babbage

Babbage, Charles, born at Teignmouth in 1792, graduated in 1814 at Trinity College, Cambridge, without honours. He had, however, devoted himself to higher mathematics, and in conjunction with Herschel and Peacock, strove to substitute the Leibnitzian for the Newtonian notation in the Calculus. With the object of eliminating inaccuracies in astronomical and other calculations, he started the idea of a calculating machine, and was aided by the British Government in prosecuting his designs, which occupied nearly all his life, but were productive of no great practical success. From 1828 to 1839 he was Lucasian Professor at Cambridge. His later years were spent in London, where he constructed several machines capable of yielding certain results, helped to found the Astronomical and Statistical Societies, and waged incessant war with street musicians. He died in 1871.