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Text File  |  1992-09-02  |  648b  |  17 lines
  1. Babbage, Charles 1792-1871. English
  2. mathematician credited with being the
  3. inventor of the computer. He designed an
  4. analytical engine, a general purpose
  5. mechanical computing device for performing
  6. different calculations according to a program
  7. input on punched cards (an idea borrowed from
  8. the Jacquard loom). This device was never
  9. built, but it embodied many of the principles
  10. on which present digital computers are based.
  11. As a young man Babbage assisted John Herschel
  12. with his astronomical calculations. He became
  13. involved with calculating machines when he
  14. worked on his difference engine for the
  15. British Admiralty, though this was never
  16. completed.
  17.