HST 701 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Royal Astronomical Society, Isles Of Scilly, Analytical Engine
7 Nov 2016
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Hst 701 - scientific technology and modern society. Could only spit out numbers at end of calculations. Examples of the "calculator" : abacus, adding machines, difference engines. Computers have a storage and retrieval function (memory) Charles babbage, 1946, complete theory of computers - the analytical engine. > he is the inventor of the computer. Oceans experience nearly four tides a day. Caused by earth"s motion, sun, and moon gravity. High and low tides vary even across bays. There are thousands of points along a national coast line. Scilly islands - site of hundreds of shipwrecks. Two human computers independently calculated tides for each port. Dedication of computers made difference between life and death for soldiers. Invented by charles babbage between 1834 and 1846 to reduce rote calculation work. Cambridge university : formed the analytical society (student group) Elected to royal society in 1816 at the age of 25 years old. Babbage helped sir william herschel at royal astronomical society.
