GLORY and FAILURE: The Difference Engines of Johann Muller, Charles Babbage & Georg & Edvard Scheutz. Linkoping Studies in Arts & Science - 9; Stockholm Papers in History & Philosophy of Technology - 2017. - Hardcover

Lindgren, Michael; Translated By Craig G. McKay.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9178701465 ISBN 13: 9789178701469

Publisher: Linkoping University, Stockholm, 1987

Synopsis

The first attempts to mechanize the production of numerical tables were remarkable in conception coming at a time when a "computer" was in fact a person rather than a machine. This book is the first to provide a unified picture of the difference engines that were the mechanical predecessors of today's digital computer, to emphasize them as part of the history of numerical tables, and to give equal weight to the technical and social aspects of their creation.Lindgren analyzes the difference engines of Müller and Babbage and the mathematical principles on which they are based, tells the story of how Georg and Edvard Scheutz learned about Babbage's engine, discusses the design and operation of the Scheutzs' machine, and tells why Babbage failed technically and the Scheutzes failed commercially. The often detailed technical descriptions bring to light the inventors' own ways of thinking as work on the engines progressedMichael Lindgren is Curator at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm.

Edition details

• Publisher: Linkoping University, Stockholm
• Publication date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9178701465
• ISBN 13: 9789178701469
• Binding: Hardcover