Who: Charles Babbage
What: A Polymath who originated the concept of a digital programmable computer called Analytical Engine
When: 1830s
Where: London, England
Why: To make computational tasks automated and error-free rather than have a person sit all day, adding and subtracting numbers and entering their results into tables.
How: Babbage started with making his first vision that was called the Difference Engine. It worked on the principle of making mathematical calculations by repeated addition, without using multiplication or division.
He then moved on to produce a new kind of mechanical computer called the Analytical Engine. This version could make complex calculations, including multiplication and division.
The base parts of the Analytical Engine are the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and memory, which resemble the components of any computer sold on the market today.
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