It was a month or two ago now that I was invited along to the Royal Dartmouth Yacht Club to give a talk on Babbage – and though this blog has been a bit delayed – better late than never! Perhaps I might have arrived on time if I had a copy of Babbage’s... Continue Reading →
A fascinating look into the mind of a genius – Charles Babbage
I am very excited to post here the newspaper article published in the Teignmouth Post - and I must say a huge thanks to John Ware... Click the image to read it in its own window.
Babbage gets involved with the railways.
In 1837 Charles Babbage was asked by Brunel to work with him on the Great Western Railway It was a family affair as his son was working for Brunel at this time. Brunel wanted ‘research into the safety and efficiency’ of the proposed G W R. Babbage was straight on with the job - so... Continue Reading →
There’s a place for everything and everything in its place
‘Charles Babbage from the beginning’ starts off exploring who his ancestors were, what they did for a living and where in Devon they lived. Ancestry was something that Charles was immensely interested in. He found his own name amusing and unusual - which it was, there were very few recorded Babbages at this time. The first... Continue Reading →
PRESS RELEASE: Lucy is excited to announce that Charles Babbage from the Beginning is now published on SMASHWORDS! Activity has been frenzied with 20 downloads in the last two hours. Now you can download the ebook or buy the paperback edition from the following : Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/lucysimister (ebook) Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/charles-babbage-from-the-beginning-lucy-may-simister/1122044648?ean=978151214919 7... Continue Reading →
The Greatest Secrets of them All: Love your Local Library
In one of those ironic twists of fate I used the internet in part to do some research for the Babbage book. So - since he was the one who started it - Babbage helped me do some of his own research! Now there’s a strange thought! He almost invented the time machine... For... Continue Reading →
Babbage: Much more than the computer
‘Charles Babbage from the Beginning’ is a book in three parts. Firstly it traces his Devon ancestors, where they lived and who they were. Part two is about his own life story and his family life, and part three about what inspired him to develop the computer, his work with Ada and the engineering beginnings... Continue Reading →
Charles Babbage – you started it…
These are exciting times we live in I think. Hands up all those who regularly moan about technology and about how at the most inopportune moment it decides to let us down and refuses to co-operate. OK, everybody who has ever used technology you can put your hands down now. I confess I am also... Continue Reading →
The Trouble with History
See, the trouble with history is that it is all done and in the past. Its value today is immeasurable – all those lessons we should have learned, all those people whose thoughts and lives have left messages for us to try to comprehend, all those events that were indispensible to our very existence today,... Continue Reading →
Charles Babbage of Devon
What’s in a name? What’s in a place and does it matter? As Charles Babbage once said `it is merely an empty basket until you put something into it.’ He said, referring to his personal history, that his `family was limited by the unfortunate omission in the Domesday Book.’ Perhaps his early ancestors lived in... Continue Reading →