Biography

Babbage was born in London and his base was at Cambridge University, where he majored in mathematics, philosophy and computer science. He spent several years visiting manufacturers in Britain and concluded that output could be greatly increased by better planning as he anticipated the work of the later pioneers of scientific management, such as Taylor.

Although many others had been working on early computer models, it was Babbage who made the breakthrough with his design of the first mechanical computer. A complete model of his "difference engine" is in the London Science Museum.

Babbage was not infallible as he lost a fortune on his mathematically-designed gambling fortune.

From Babbage's start, computers were a long time in developing, and it was not until World War II that they really took off. Now they have changed forever the way we live and the way we manage. 

One of the giant steps forward was the World Wide Web, invented by another London-born English professor, Tim Berners-Lee, which has transformed how we communicate commercially and educationally.

Read More