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Charles, 1792–1871, English mathematician: invented the precursor of the modern computer.
Contemporary Examples

In 1821, Babbage had the idea for his first Difference Engine, the predecessor of the modern computer.
Great Weekend Reads The Daily Beast March 4, 2011

Babbage never had the chance to complete his groundbreaking calculating machine.
Great Weekend Reads The Daily Beast March 4, 2011

Eventually, as Babbage’s vision grew ever more expansive, the government invested over £17,000 ($28,000).
Great Weekend Reads The Daily Beast March 4, 2011

Babbage, Herschel, Whewell, and Jones set out on massive projects to collect and make sense of vast data sets.
Great Weekend Reads The Daily Beast March 4, 2011

And Babbage dreamed up a machine that could churn through and make sense of this information.
Great Weekend Reads The Daily Beast March 4, 2011

Historical Examples

Maseres was, it is true, ninety-two at this time, but Babbage was thirty-one instead of twenty-nine.
A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume I (of II) Augustus De Morgan

From 1828 to 1839 Babbage was Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 Various

The best-known of these theories is that of Babbage and Herschel.
The Birth-Time of the World and Other Scientific Essays J. (John) Joly

In 1815, in February, Mr. Babbage began a course of lectures on Astronomy.
The Royal Institution Bence Jones

We went frequently to see Mr. Babbage while he was making his Calculating-machines.
Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville Mary Somerville

noun
Charles 1792–1871, English mathematician and inventor, who built a calculating machine that anticipated the modern electronic computer
Babbage
(bāb’ĭj)
British mathematician who is considered a pioneer of computer science. In 1837 Babbage described an idea for the analytical engine, a machine that could be programmed with punched cards to perform complex calculations. Although Babbage never finished building the analytical engine, his idea is recognized as the forerunner of the modern computer.
language
The structured assembly language for the General Electric Company 4xxx range of computers and their OS4000 operating system. It is strictly an assembler in that the generated code is relatively predictable but it can be written in a sufficiently structured manner, with indentation, control statements, function and procedure calls, to make the resultant source easy to read and manage. Even with this visible structure however, it is important to remember that the assembly of the statement is done left to right.
The British videotext system, Prestel is programmed in Babbage.
[Datamation, 1980s].
(2007-10-24)