Charles Babbage

By the 19th century, machines had taken over various types of physical labor, so folks began to wonder: Might it be possible, perhaps, for machines to take over some of the more mental labor as well?

One person who believed in this possibility was Charles Babbage. (Have you ever wondered who those "Babbage's" computer stores in shopping malls were named after?)

In 1822, Babbage, set to work, trying to build a machine that could do arithmetic.

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