When did it all start?

“A machine is not a thinking creature, it’s just an automaton that implements it.”
Luigi Menabrea, 1842

Yesterday I had a curious dream. There I was interviewed and answered standard questions in the spirit of normal database forms. Suddenly, an employee of the company came to my interviewer on some matter. Seeing that the process of mutual inquiries was taking place, he decided to get involved in the process and asked a simple question: “When did it all start?”. Then, in a dream, I was a little confused, I only remembered that Lord Byron had a daughter named Ada, who was considered the first programmer on the first computer. Knowledge was the result of the study of the biography of Byron, and was fixed rather as an additional fact from his life, so I could not remember anything more specifically because I did not know.
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Having returned to a more material reality, I did not leave this question, and I decided to thoroughly find out the start date, at least a year.
For the beginning, I decided to take the creation of the first working computer and launch it, which is important, as there were many projects of difference machines, the specific result is important for us, namely the recorded fact of the calculations made by the machine.

The investigation returns to Ada Lovelace.

So, we reread the article about Ada Lovelace and see that the first machine with which she worked was Charles Babbage 's Difference Machine .

Thus, the first computer was called Babbage's Big Difference Machine, but was it built, did it work, and if so, when. Searches go in the direction of Charles Babbage and his car. The first picture shows its archival scheme.



Go to the article about the car. We see

“In 1823, the first subsidy was paid for the construction of what is now considered to be the first computer on earth known as the“ Big Difference Babbage Machine ”. Construction lasted ten years, the design of the machine became more and more complicated, and in 1833 funding was discontinued. ”

In other sources, there is also an alternative date of completion of funding - 1834. And no information on the first calculation. Strange. Everything was not as simple as we would like.

What is this car?

“The Charles Babbage Difference Machine is a mechanical device, invented by the English mathematician Charles Babbage, designed to automate calculations by approximating functions by polynomials and calculating finite differences. The possibility of approximate representation in polynomials of logarithms and trigonometric functions allows us to consider this machine as a fairly universal computing device. ”

Yes, judging by the pictures in Wikipedia and articles - he is still a steampunk.

“In developing the car, Babbage did not present all the difficulties associated with its implementation, and not only failed to meet the promised three years, but even nine years later he was forced to suspend his work. However, part of the machine still began to function and made calculations with even greater accuracy than expected. "

So the car worked, albeit partially. From this it follows that it really can be considered the first computer.

In 1823, the British government granted Charles Babbage a subsidy for the construction of a car. The first estimated date of appearance of the machine is 1832, since its development took nine years.

Date is confirmed from the article on the assembly model of this machine.

“This model applies to designs, although it’s not possible to use it, it’s not possible. Difference Engine # 1 which Babbage actually realized in 1832. "

Although some sources appear in 1833.

"... but by the beginning of 1833 it is possible to finish and test a part of the machine that can tabulate polynomials with constant second differences up to the fifth digit."

Og!

“In 1834, an article by Dr. Dionysius Lardner“ The Babbage Computer ”appeared in which the principle and structure of the machine is described in great detail.

This is where the exact dates should be. It remains to find the article.

“... they were inspired by the article by Dr. Dionysius Lardner in the Edinburgh Review in 1834, the Babbage Computer.”

So you need to find a scan of this release, or at least its transcription.

“Edinburgh Review” (English Edinburgh Review) - one of the most influential British magazines of the XIX century. The original edition was published from 1802 to 1929, then from 1984 the name began to be used by the magazine New Edinburgh Review (English New Edinburgh Review), published since 1969. Currently, the magazine is part of the Eurozine magazine network. ”

First scan found in the archives: The Edinburgh Review, or The Critical Journal: for July, 1834, ....... January, 1835, vol. LX (in usual numbers it is 60). The release date is 1835, most likely not what we need, but then we know the approximate issue number - 59 or 58, unlikely 57 - respectively LIX, LVIII or LVII.


Archive scan of the journal which allegedly has a full version of the article.

We are looking for a treasured article ...

Along the way, it turns out that this issue consists of two other sub-issues with a different numbering. The first is CXXI ​​(121), with an exit date of October, 1834. The second is CXXII (122), with an exit date of January, 1835.

In order to find an article by Lardner, you need to learn the Latin spelling of his name. We find. In English, the name Dionysius Lardner is spelled Dionysius Lardner. It's funny that there is no article about him on the Russian-language wiki, only on the English-language one. In the future, the original name is useful for finding his article in the archives.

Along the way, we find the first scan of the article in very poor quality and only one page.


Scan of one of the pages of the article by Dionysius Lardner on the Babbage computer

One can hardly see that there are only two dates in the article: 1836 and 1835. According to the data obtained, they do not suit us, but everything can be. More importantly, we can see the page number, the title of the article, and the month in the upper right corner! Obviously this is the month of issue - July - it means that October does not suit us.

So:

• Page number - 282
• The exact title of the article is Babbage's Calculating Engine.
• Month - July

Indeed, if you look at a complete reversal of a previously found release, you can see that the year of release is written on the left, and the month on the right.


Spread of The Edinburgh Review

It remains to find the release of The Edinburgh Review for July 1834. Also the numbers LIX and CXX will help us.

While finding the desired issue does not work, turn to other sources.

In one more authoritative (at least in appearance) work, a fact pops up, once again confirming the date of the first assembly and start of the machine as 1832.



And one more confirmation, along the way, we learn about the existence of a toolmaker named Joseph Clement, whom Babbage hired to actually make his first car (the very same one). Thus, there is another important person in this whole story, who actually assembled the first computer on Babbage's projects.

“Joseph Clement (1779-1844) was amongst the finest toolmakers of his generation, both accredited and accredited for his innovations in machine tools. It was the draftsman who was a clever toolkit, and he was a Joseph Bramah and Henry Maudsley. Babbage hired Clement sometime in the mid-1820s to make Difference Engine No.1. Cleared made tools, often devising specialized tools. It is impossible to understand what it’s possible to do. Clement made of 'beautiful fragment' - 1 delivered to Babbage in 1832 - one of the finest examples of precision. It’s the first computer engineer. ”

In the end I managed to find the coveted issue of The Edinburgh Review. Below will be a link to the archive with pdfs, there open “The_Edinburgh_Review_Or_Critical_Journal Vol. LIX .pdf. The article begins on page 263 and ends at 327. Unfortunately, the article does not contain information on the date of the first start of the machine, it says only that from 1829 to the beginning of 1833 the development process was slow and intermittent, until it stopped at all. Nevertheless, the document is important and interesting and plays a big role not only in the life of Babbage, but also in the history of our entire IT-industry.

At the end of this investigation, fully and completely making sure that everything began in the 1832nd year. In addition to the date, now I can also tell the whole story, but this is already in another dream. Of course, I would like to know the exact date of the demonstration hooked on this fact: “But ideally, to find out not only the exact date, but also in what mood were Joseph and Charles, and what specific calculations were made.

PS The name Johann Helfrich Müller suddenly surfaced with his first development of difference machines that Babbage might have used. Maybe he is actually the creator of the first car, and no Babbage? Perhaps I will delve into this question some other time.

Sources

Archive with pdfs and pictures - yadi.sk/d/dNQu6p3wb8if4

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavleys,_Ada
ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raznochnaya_Charlza_Babbidha
www.meccano.us/difference_engines/rde_1
history-computer.com/MechanicalCalculators/18thCentury/Muller.html
habrahabr.ru/post/80800
habrahabr.ru/post/80334
https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/ESBE/Babbidzh__Charles
www.many-books.org/auth/506/book/56631/gibson_uilyam/mashina_razlichiy/read/86
www.computerhistory.org/babbage/dionysiuslardner
www.computerhistory.org/babbage/josephclement
www.sophiararebooks.com/pages/books/2605/charles-babbage/babbages-calculating-engines-being-a-collection-of-papers-relating-to-them-their-history-and