Charles Babbage designed the first automatic computing engines, but none of his creations was ever fully built.
In 2002, London's Science Museum completed the first fully-functional Difference Engine. A duplicate machine was constructed for Nathan Myhrvold, tech millionaire and former chief technology officer at Microsoft. That second machine is on display at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
The photos in this gallery were taken by Jitze Couperus in January, 2010 during a visit to the museum. Mr. Couperus has graciously allowed us to republish his photos of Babbage's Difference Engine and Royal McBee LGP-30 and Control Data Corporation (CDC) 6600.
Photo credit: Jitze Couperus
Babbage's Difference Engine and other historic computers
by Bill Detwiler | May 26, 2010, 6:34am PDT | Image 1 of 24
Babbage Difference Engine No. 2
Babbage Difference Engine No. 2 - Image 1 of 24
About Bill Detwiler
Bill Detwiler is Head Technology Editor of TechRepublic. Previously, he worked as a Support Tech and IT Manager in the social research and energy industries.
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