Sunday, November 1, 2009
While George Stibitz and Konrad Zuse were trying to develop the circuitry that would eventually lead to the invention of the digital computer, Vannevar Bush was working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - but he was heading in a different direction.
Bush was attempting to re-invent Charles Babbage's Difference Engine.
He did it, too. At a time when engineers were beginning to look towards electrical circuits for more efficient processing of much more complex operations, Bush managed to produce a calculating machine that used electricity only to turn the shafts, which turned the cranks, which clanked away clumsily to solve differential equations - all only after the various gear ratios had been calculated and manually calibrated.
Bush's ‘continuous integraph’, later called the Differential Analyser, was still a significant development in the progress towards an analogue computer, influencing development of analogue machines around the world.
Bush was attempting to re-invent Charles Babbage's Difference Engine.
He did it, too. At a time when engineers were beginning to look towards electrical circuits for more efficient processing of much more complex operations, Bush managed to produce a calculating machine that used electricity only to turn the shafts, which turned the cranks, which clanked away clumsily to solve differential equations - all only after the various gear ratios had been calculated and manually calibrated.
Bush's ‘continuous integraph’, later called the Differential Analyser, was still a significant development in the progress towards an analogue computer, influencing development of analogue machines around the world.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment