Material Language of Computer Hardware

Joel Gethin Lewis

RCA, Material Language, Visual Communication MA, Thursday 9th November 2017

Material Language of Computer Hardware:

1. The Jacquard Loom and Joseph Marie Jacquard
2. The Difference Engine and Charles Babbage
3. The Analytical Engine and Ada Lovelace
4. The Turing Machine and Alan Turing
5. The Economic Computer and Bill Philips

The Jacquard Loom

• Located on Science Museum level 0: Making the Modern World.
• Patented in 1804 by Joseph Marie Jacquard.
• Designed for the automation of silk weaving.
• Pioneered the use of punch cards to allow for programmability.
• Caused protests by skilled workers, originating the word sabotage from sabot, French for wooden shoe.

The Difference Engine

• Located on Science Museum level 0: Making the Modern World.
• Patented in 1804 by Charles Babbage.
• Designed for the automation of the creation of astronomical and mathematical tables.
• Project was abandoned by the British Government in 1842, after funding it since 1823.

The Analytical Engine

• Located on Science Museum level 2: Mathematics: The Winton Gallery.
• Charles Babbage worked on it until his death in 1871.
• Ada Lovelace realised its potential for general tasks: "the Analytical Engine waves algebraic patterns, just as the Jacquard Loom weaves flowers and leaves", and even for music: "the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent".

The Turing Machine

• A valve from Colossus project (based on Turing's concepts and designed by Tommy Flowers) is located on Science Museum level 2: Information Age: Web.The ACE Computer (based on Turing's concepts and design) is located on Science Museum level 2: Information Age: Web.
• Alan Turing invented it in 1936. His code work in WWII on code is estimated to have saved over 14 million lives. In later life he became interested in Morphogensisbefore committing suicide in 1954 after being convicted of homosexual acts.

The Economic Computer

• Located on Science Museum level 2: Mathematics: The Winton Gallery.
• William Philips invented it in 1949. The idea was to use water to represent money as it flowed around the economic system. Valves could be opened or closed to represent variable effects, such as the rate of interest on savings or investment. Graphical curves, describing things such as the way interest rates varied over time, could be cut into plastic sheets and physically ‘read’ by the machine as it operated.

Thanks!

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Slides:
presentations/ScienceMuseum2017

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