xx
Early Calculating Machines: Charles Babbage mid 1800's The Difference Engine #1 (1832) The Difference Engine #2 (1852) The Analytical Engine (dev. by son in 1910) 1835-36: Texas Revolution fought to win the independence of Texas from Mexico. 1845: The potato blight strikes Ireland. 1854: Commodore Matthew Parry negotiates a treaty opening Japan to American trade. 1869: The first transcontinental railroad is completed in America. Pieces of Difference Engine , courtesy of Glen Thurston. Analytical Engine, courtesy of Computer Museum of America, http://www.computer-museum.org Pei-Shan Lin