Image: Analytical Engine (2290032530)

Description: Modern model of Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine displayed at the Science Museum, London. “ The Analytical Engine - the world's first mechanical computer - was invented by Charles Babbage in 1834. It was his most visionary idea, and this small section was under construction when he died. Like modern computers, the Analytical Engine has a processor, a memory and a way to input information and output results. The Analytical Engine would have been programmed using punched cards an idea babbage took from looms used to weave patterned cloth. The machine could store numbers and results in its memory, and process them in its mill. Babbage also planned that the machine would be able to do several calculations at once - what we now call parallel processing. Babbage hoped to fund his Analytical Engine by writing a novel, or even by creating a machine to play noughts and crosses for cash. If he had finished the Analytical Engine it would have been over 4 metres tall and 6 metres long, and probably powered by steam. source ”
Title: Analytical Engine (2290032530)
Credit: Analytical Engine Mill
Author: Marcin Wichary from San Francisco, U.S.A.
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
License: CC BY 2.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes