BAB'BAGE, CHARLES ( 1792-1871). An Eng lish mathematician and inventor, born near Teignmouth, Devonshire. Be early devoted him self to mathematics, particularly its analytical branches, and pursued his systematic education at Trinity College, Cambridge, from which he received his baccalaureate degree in Two years after graduating he published, jointly with Herschel and Peacock, a translatioD of Lacroix's OatenIns, and four years later they published an excellent collection of mathemat ical problems. Meanwhile, the idea of con structing a machine for calculating mechanically various tables of mathematics and astronomy had been ripening in Babbage's mind, and in 1820 he undertook the practical execution of this difficult task. The model of his machine was found eminently satisfactory by the Royal Society in 1823, and the Government consented to aid him in carrying out the idea on a large scale. In order to familiarize himself with all the resources of mechanical art, be visited manu factories and machine establishments in Great Britain, and in 1327-28 traveled on the Conti nent. These investigations resulted in a num ber of highly valuable improvements in ma chinery and manufacturing processes. and al though the completion of his main task was not yet in view, important service was rendered by the publication of his brilliant work, On the Economy of Manufactures and Machinery, the first edition in 1832, and several subsequent editions and translations into foreign languages.
The Government, however. fearing that the con struction of his calculating-machine was an im possibility. had refused to give him further aid; and thus Babbage was thrown upon his own re sources, continuing his work until 1856, but never completing it. Yet the realization of his machine is even now considered as quite possi ble, and its inestimable value in case it were realized is appreciated by some of the best mathematicians of our time. While mainly de voted to his invention, Babbage also made a number of important contributions to pure mathematics. Ile invented a new and important branch of higher analysis. wrote on the appli cations of mathematics to questions of insur ance and gambling. and did noel to raise the standard of mathematical teaching in England. hi recognition of his services to 7:cience, he was made a member of many learned societies, and from 1828 to 1839 was nominally Licasian pro fessor of mathematics at Cambridge. He was one of the founders of the Astronomical Society, and to his writings was due, in great measure, the founding of the British Association. The list of his works includes as many as eighty titles, but most of hi; writings were left un completed. Among his works that deserve no tice are his excellent Table of Logarithms (1827), and the autobiographical Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864), besides those already mentioned above.