On this day in 1822, Charles Babbage proposed the use of a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society, some 186 years later and a replica of one of Babbage’s machines can be found in the Virtual World mod Second Life:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Highlands/230/126/38
Second Life Difference Engine created by Independent State of Caledon resident Paul Churchill
Upodate 2024: Although ‘The Independent State of Caledon’ is still active and very much alive inside Second Life the Caledon Highlands sim is no more and I was unable to track down the difference engine in world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine
“On Mr. Babbage’s new machine for calculating and printing mathematical and astronomical tables…”
Some 186 years later and a replica of one of Babbage’s machines can be found in a Virtual World:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Highlands/230/126/38
Second Life Difference Engine created by Independent State of Caledon resident Paul Churchill
Upodate 2024: Although ‘The Independent State of Caledon’ is still active and very much alive inside Second Life the Caledon Highlands sim is no more and I was unable to track down the difference engine in world.
Other Second Life related pages can be found here