It was nearly 200 years ago (okay, 191) that Charles Babbage came up with the design for his Difference Engine, a mechanical calculator that could solve polynomial-based equations. In the 1820′s, he also sketched designs for a printer to go along with it!
What’s perhaps more amazing is that when, in 2000, the printer and difference engine were built, they worked perfectly. And they still do!
As we move ever faster into quantum computing, wearable computing, holographic interfaces, and all the rest, it’s sometimes useful to take a moment and look back. This week, to look WAY back, and celebrate one of the foundational moments of the technology.
The Computer History Museum in California has a working Difference Engine No. 2, and also has a wonderful interpretive website about it all.
Worth checking out!