Introduction

The history of computers begins not with computers but with groups of people in very focused disciplines doing very specific and diligent work largely unnoticed by the masses.  This is often overlooked and particularly erases the contribution that women played in the role of making computers the concrete, logarithmic machines they are today. The longevity and brilliance of the computer is attributed those who upon first glance appear they have no use for computers or computer science but instead find they are the very ones asking what’s the next set of limits to defy and what should we ask from computers in the future.

Chapter 2

Charles Babbage was an economist whose broad interests in economics, astronomy and literature lead him to develop an incipient computing machine called the Difference Engine. This device could perform simple mathematical operations and was mainly intended to compute squares. Babbage’s initial pioneering work in computing machines, using gears and levers instead of circuit boards, was a vital first step toward the modern computer we have today. Overall, the work of Babbage and his colleagues represents the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of computer science in its nascent stages.  Moreover, this section serves to underscore the importance of the diligent work of people in computer science more than the machines themselves.

TJ did the Introduction and Gray did Chapter 2. TJ then submitted the blog.