Ask a Teacher

Charles Babbage was considered to be the father of computing after his invention and concept of the Analytical Engine in 1837. The Analytical Engine contained an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), basic flow control, and integrated memory; hailed as the first general-purpose computer concept. Unfortunately, because of funding issues this computer was never built while Charles Babbage was alive.

However, in 1910 Henry Babbage, Charles Babbage's youngest son was able to complete a portion of the machine that could perform basic calculations. In addition, in 1991, the London Science Museum completed a working version of the Analytical Engine No 2, which incorporated his refinements Babbage discovered during his initial development of the Analytical Engine.

Although Babbage never completed his invention in his lifetime, his radical ideas and concepts of the computer are what make him the father of computing.