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• Charles Babbage is most famous for initiating the idea of a programmable computer and inventing the world's first mechanical computer.
• His parents were called Benjamin Babbage and Betsy Plumleigh Teape. His father worked in London for Praed's & Co as a banking partner. Charles Babbage had three siblings.
• He attended Holmwood Academy which was located on Baker Street in Enfield. Only thirty students were taught at the academy ran by Reverend Stephen Freeman. Whilst studying at the academy, his passion for mathematics grew.
• He married Georgiana Whitmore in 1814. They were married, without his father's approval, at St. Michael's Church in Teignmouth, Devon. They resided at 5 Devonshire Street, Portland Place, London.
• Charles Babbage was a mathematician who enjoyed precision and accuracy. The human error rate in the calculation of maths tables was very high. Charles Babbage wanted to decrease the error rate by removing the need for human intervention. He planned to develop a mechanical system.
• Using the experience he had gained from his previous engines, he began working on a design for a second difference engine in 1846. The schematic diagrams were kept at London's science museum until 1985-1991 when a full size difference engine was constructed in honor of the 200th anniversary of Charles Babbage’s birth. Construction of the difference engine began, following his original plans and worked perfectly upon completion!
• He was awarded with the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1824 in recognition of the invention of an engine for calculating mathematical and astronomical tables
• Charles Babbage died at his home at 1 Dorset Street, Marylebone, London on October 18, 1871. A green plaque has since been placed at the address in memory of his life. He was 79 years old when he died. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, London. Half of his brain can be seen on display at London's Science Museum, the other half of his brain is kept at London's Hunterian Museum in the Royal College of Surgeons
• Charles Babbage was an important British inventor and mathematician. His most notable invention was the world's first mechanical computer known as the 'difference engine'. He was a precise and accurate mathematician who worked hard to eliminate the possibility of human error by developing a mechanical machine.
