Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2016/02/24

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Subject: [Leica] Babbage Difference Engine Funeral
From: spencer at aotera.org (Spencer Cheng)
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 21:26:10 -0500
References: <D8CE378C-10FD-419E-A2A7-5D45638D5809@acm.org>

Herbert,

I am sorry to hear about this. I saw the Difference Engine (along with the 
Wang minicomputer which was the first computer I learnt to program on) a few 
years ago when I was in San Jose for some meetings. I guess I will have to 
visit London Science Museum if I actually want to see it working.

Without the Difference Engine, steam-punk fiction would never have been 
created. :-)

In time, Myhrvold?s estate will probably donate it back to the Computer 
Museum. Not everyone wants a 5 ton machine sitting in their living room 
(and, of course, the tax break).

Regards,
Spencer

> On Feb 24, 2016, at 20:52, Herbert Kanner <kanner at acm.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Over eight years ago, at the instigation of Bill Gates, the Science Museum 
> in London approached Nathan Myhrvold, former Chief Technology Officer for 
> Microsoft, for financial help in completing the Babbage Difference Engine. 
> The Museum had built the larger component, the one that did the actual 
> arithmetic. The additional financing was to enable them to build the 
> smaller but very complex component that would print the results on a paper 
> roll and, most important, create a mold in soft plaster of paris, that 
> when hardened would enable the creation of a full-page plate, ready to go 
> into a printing press, by pouring molten type metal into the mold.
[?]



In reply to: Message from kanner at acm.org (Herbert Kanner) ([Leica] Babbage Difference Engine Funeral)