Rare Science Books and Manuscripts

[Nanfeishen]

Discovered this site dedicated to old scientific journals etc, with some really unbelievable archival literature :
http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/

Example : - early atronomical works, click on image of a manuscript for entire contents
http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/astro_atlas

List of the Collection:
http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm4/about.php

Online Exhibitions
http://www.lindahall.org/events_exhib/exhibit/index.shtml

Must be one of the best archives i have ever found

 

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Nice find, thanks!

 

[<?php?>]

Wow! Charles Babbage's Calculating Machine

http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/eng_tech&CISOPTR=9&REC=1

Babbage's machines were among the first mechanical computers, although they were not actually completed, largely because of funding problems and personality issues. He directed the building of some steam-powered machines that achieved some success, suggesting that calculations could be mechanized. Although Babbage's machines were mechanical and unwieldy, their basic architecture was very similar to a modern computer. The data and program memory were separated, operation was instruction based, the control unit could make conditional jumps and the machine had a separate I/O unit. For more than ten years he received government funding for his project, which amounted to £17,000.00, but eventually the Treasury lost confidence in Babbage.[25]

 

[spiff]

awesome!!.......babbage's calculating machine a far cry from my new 5 axis linear cnc milling machine which arrives in 3 weeks time!

 

[porchrat]

The Difference Engine and the achievement of designing the world's first programmable machine was what got me interested in programming in the first place. So awesome.

"The whole of arithmetic now appeared within the grasp of mechanism. " - Charles Babbage

 

[Jamal]

This may or may not be known, but the first programmable computer was developed not by Charles Babbage but by Konrad Zuse.

 

[porchrat]

This may or may not be known, but the first programmable computer was developed not by Charles Babbage but by Konrad Zuse.

The Difference Engine was indeed a programmable machine by any definition I can think of and it was designed decades before Zuse was even born.

Zuse built the first fully automatic program-controlled machine, it was an incredible feat and he deserves recognition for it but Babbage designed the first programmable machine.

 

[Palimino]

Wow! Charles Babbage's Calculating Machine

Babbage = 1st hardware engineer

Linda Lovelace (daughter of the poet Lord Byron) = 1st software engineer

 

[Jamal]

The Difference Engine was indeed a programmable machine by any definition I can think of and it was designed decades before Zuse was even born.

Zuse built the first fully automatic program-controlled machine, it was an incredible feat and he deserves recognition for it but Babbage designed the first programmable machine.

Isn't the difference engine just a calculator?

 

[porchrat]

Isn't the difference engine just a calculator?

Sort of. The machine had a bunch of columns and you programmed it by setting initial values for the columns. Then you rotated a crank to have it produce results.

Up until then machines worked in one particular way with the mechanism performing only one operation. Inputs that always produced the same output. Babbage was the first to create a machine that allowed you to input values (program it in a very basic language of columns) and have it produce different outputs. It may have been simple but it was definitely the first programmable machine.

 

[bubbatentoe]

very nice.
Thanks.

 

[rwenzori]

Linda Lovelace (daughter of the poet Lord Byron) = 1st software engineer

Linda?? Koff, koff. Ada, maybe LOL.

 

[Palimino]

Linda?? Koff, koff. Ada, maybe LOL.

Sorry, you are right. Lovelace is linked to ‘Deep Throat’ in my memory.

 

[Skywalker42]

I love "Computer History"