Charles Babbage: Babbage’s Calculating Engines: Being a Collection of Papers Relating to Them; Their History and Construction (1889/2010)
Filed under book | Tags: · computing, engineering, history of mathematics, machine, mathematics, technology
“The famous and prolific nineteenth-century mathematician, engineer and inventor Charles Babbage (1791–1871) was an early pioneer of computing. He planned several calculating machines, but none was built in his lifetime. On his death his youngest son, Henry P. Babbage, was charged with the task of completing an unfinished volume of papers on the machines, which was finally published in 1889 and is reissued here. The papers, by a variety of authors, were collected from journals including The Philosophical Magazine, The Edinburgh Review and Scientific Memoirs. They relate to the construction and potential application of Charles Babbage’s calculating engines, notably the Difference Engine and the more complex Analytical Engine, which was to be programmed using punched cards. The book also includes correspondence with members of scientific societies, as well as proceedings, catalogues and drawings. Included is a complete catalogue of the drawings of the Analytical Engine.”
Originally published by E. and F. N. Spon, 125, Strand, London, 1889
Editor Henry P. Babbage
Publisher Cambridge University Press, 2010
Cambridge Library Collection – Mathematics
ISBN 1108000967, 9781108000963
388 pages
PDF (8 MB, updated on 2014-12-22)
Comment (0)Charles Babbage: On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures (1832/2010)
Filed under book | Tags: · engineering, labour, machine, mathematics, technology
“In this famous book, first published in 1832, Charles Babbage (1791–1871), the mathematician, philosopher, engineer and inventor who originated the concept of a programmable computer, surveys manufacturing practices and discusses the political, moral and economic factors affecting them. The book met with hostility from the publishing industry on account of Babbage’s analysis of the manufacture and sale of books. Babbage describes the many different printing processes of the time, analyses the costs of book production and explains the publication process, before discussing the ‘too large’ profit margins of booksellers. Babbage succeeded in his aim ‘to avoid all technical terms, and to describe in concise language’, making this an eminently readable historical account. His analysis and promotion of mechanisation and efficient ‘division of labour’ (still known as the ‘Babbage principle’) continue to resonate strongly for modern industrial engineering.”
Originally published by Charles Knight, Pall Mall East., London, 1832
Publisher Cambridge University Press, 2010
Cambridge Library Collection – Printing and Publishing History
ISBN 1108009107, 9781108009102
344 pages
PDF (5 MB, updated on 2014-12-22)
Comment (0)Lynn Thorndike: A History of Magic and Experimental Science, Vols. 1-2 (1923)
Filed under book | Tags: · experiment, history, history of science, magic, occultism, science
Lynn Thorndike’s History of Magic and Experimental Science, in 8 volumes, is the premier reference work for the history of magic in the West. The first 2 volumes cover late antiquity through the 13th century. These are strong volumes, copiously researched and well-indexed, and a major source for work on the period.
The aim of the complette set is to treat the history of magic and experimental science and their relations to Christian thought down to the Seventeenth Century. The first two volumes deal with the first thirteen centuries of our era, with special emphasis upon the 12th and 13th centuries. Magic is understood under the broadest sense of the work, as including all occult arts and sciences, superstitions and folklore. The author believes that magic and experimental science have been connected in their development, and within these pages will attempt to prove the same.
Publisher Columbia University Press, 1923
ISBN 0231087942, 9780231087940 (Vol 1); 0231087950, 9780231087957 (Vol 2)
888 pages (Vol 1), 1054 pages (Vol 2)
PDF, More formats (Vol 1)
PDF, More formats (Vol 2)