This article is perfectly appropriate for Engineers Week this week. I focus here especially on women in engineering. Myra Sadker once said, “If the cure for cancer is in the mind of a girl, we may ...

As you might expect from its name, the "Difference Engine" is a strangely difficult object to describe. You might start by imagining the side of a large crib with uprights ringed by small metal wheels ...

The first programmable computer—if it were built—would have been a gigantic, mechanical thing clunking along with gears and levers and punch cards. That was the vision for Analytical Engine devised by ...

In the 19th century, British mathematician Charles Babbage invented the “difference engine,” a mechanical computer that had an enormously complex arrangement of levers, ratchets and gears. Had this ...

The world’s leading expert on mechanical computers wasn’t [Charles Babbage]; sure, he could design stuff, but eventually you need to actually build something. We are now graced with the expertise of ...

When you create logic circuits using ICs or FPGAs, you can’t easily visualize their operation without special tools. But if you’ve ever seen a mechanical computer (like the Computer History Museum’s ...