Answer:
Charles Babbage, (born December 26, 1791, London, England—died October 18, 1871, London), English mathematician and inventor who is credited with having conceived the first automatic digital computer.
Explanation:
The idea of mechanically calculating mathematical tables first came to Babbage in 1812 or 1813. Later he made a small calculator that could perform certain mathematical computations to eight decimals. Then in 1823 he obtained government support for the design of a projected machine, the Difference Engine, with a 20-decimal capacity. The Difference Engine was a digital device: it operated on discrete digits rather than smooth quantities, and the digits were decimal (0–9), represented by positions on toothed wheels rather than binary digits (“bits”). When one of the toothed wheels turned from nine to zero, it caused the next wheel to advance one position, carrying the digit. Like modern computers, the Difference Engine had storage—that is, a place where data could be held temporarily for later processing.
