For those who haven’t yet heard, a band of number-crunching nostalgists took the concept design for Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine No. 2, and turned it into a real, fully functional machine. But ...

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. This is a replica of the portion of a ...

"The machine works exactly as Babbage intended. There's not a single logical design flaw in the entire design," says its builder Doron Swade. And 248 gears of iron, brass and steel. The first digital ...

Frustrated by human error, mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage designed a machine to perform mathematical functions and automatically print the results. Library of Congress When today’s number ...

OVER the years, Babbage has been fascinated by start-up companies. Start-ups bring novel technology to the marketplace in the hope of making a fortune for their creators by making life richer, easier, ...

When I was in college, several decades ago, I relied heavily on a computational device called a slide rule and on a little, paperbound handbook of mathematical and scientific tables. I occasionally ...

As you might expect from its name, the "Difference Engine" is a strangely difficult object to describe. You might start by imagining the side of a large crib with uprights ringed by small metal wheels ...