ANALYTICAL ENGINE

The analytical engine, an important step in the history of computers, was the design of a mechanical general-purpose computer by the British mathematician Charles Babbage. It was first described in 1837, but Babbage continued to work on the design until his death in 1871. Because of financial, political, and legal issues, the engine was never built. In its logical design the machine was essentially modern, anticipating the first completed general-purpose computers by about 100 years.

Some believe that the technological limitations of the time were a further obstacle to the construction of the machine; others believe that the machine could have been built successfully with the technology of the era if funding and political support had been stronger. Charles Babbage was notoriously hard to work with and alienated a great number of people who had at first supported him, including his engineer Joseph Clement

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