This article is intended to pay tribute to the great pioneers of computer development, Pascal (adder), Leibnizt (hand calculator), Babbage (differential machine and analysis machine) and others!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As a reporter for The Times, John Gerrard feels that he can find countless valuable news every day in Catalonia, as he himself described, "I am in an emerging country that has undergone great changes from top to bottom." Under the leadership of the Regent and Prime Minister Say, the United Kingdom of the Mediterranean has no historical burden, no distinction between nationality, no religion, and everything has become only talented, attracting the eager attention of European countries, especially the British.

The first British engineer, Chad Derevesk, who was named a noble, was just one of the many down-and-out merchants on the streets of London a year ago. He even couldn't eat after bankruptcy. Now, Baron Chad Derevesk, who has huge wealth and respects status and reputation, has undoubtedly become an idol that many unsuccessful British engineers, scholars, and inventors envy and imitate.

A few weeks ago, when the news that Prince Desai had conferred a lonely and unknown British engineer as a nobleman in the Manresa Palace reached London, everyone was in an uproar. While everyone was talking, they inquired about the route to Catalonia. Soon, after traders, factory owners, diplomatic envoys, many British scholars, technicians, inventors, engineers, and adventurers also regarded the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula as a place for gold rush. With the same goal, they hoped to be appreciated by the Regent Prince.

At this time, in Lancashire, York Town, and Nottingon, in the UK, due to the large amount of steam engines used during the production process, countless unemployed handicraft workers were booming. This is the so-called Lude movement, which is the responsibility of destroying the "man-eating machine". However, this kind of situation is unimaginable in Catalonia, and Cape Verde's exile will always open its doors to irrational guys.

The invention of steam trains also belonged to the great Britain, but unfortunately the flowers bloomed inside and outside the walls were fragrant. Just when municipal officials in London, Manchester, Liverpool and other places were still arguing about whether to lay the rails, the Catalans had unconditionally obeyed Prince Desay's tough orders and successfully built the world's first railway from Barcelona to Manresa to actually operate.

"As long as the road does not stop, this steam train with huge energy can transport nearly 100 tons of cargo from the harbor to the capital within 90 minutes, or send a reorganized infantry regiment from Manresa to Barcelona. This is almost an unimaginable miracle of speed for traditional four-wheeled carriages and slow-dragged watercraft.

The ruler of the kingdom did not hide his desire for railway construction. At the opening ceremony, Prince Desai publicly announced that he would invest in a huge railway network connecting major cities such as Catalonia, Aragon, Valencia and other major cities and borders. In the future, two main lines and two connecting branches will be built, including the main lines along the Mediterranean (longest): Figueras-Gruna-Barcelona (Gruna)-Taragona-Card-Valencia-Elce; inland main lines: Sos Huesca-Zarragoza-Arisa; and two east-west connection lines: Tarragona-Lerida-Huesca, Card-Truel-Arisa.

...Once the entire Catalonian railway network is completed, it will not only provide a rapid, convenient and economic material channel for the entire kingdom, but will also enable the Manresa government to control and influence over various places to reach unprecedented heights." A Prussian diplomatic officer commented in a letter to General Schánhorst, Chief of Staff:

"What reminds me of this is that Prince Desai seems to have regarded the efficient railway network as the most important material and technical basis for the rapid mobilization of the Wang family army. It is obvious that although Andrew Desai, as the crown prince of Poland, is about to travel to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, his ambition for the entire Iberis Peninsula has not stopped.

Railways not only allow infantry and various military supplies to quickly reach designated areas in any weather, but also allow artillery and baggage teams to overcome various terrain obstacles. This provides a material premise for strategic guidance to implement coordinated combat operations of various types of troops and arbitrarily mobilize troops... The well-connected railway network can enable the supply of combat materials to be carried out across the country. The entire country is like a large warehouse, and the combat area of ​​the troops is no longer restricted by supply. The railway also greatly shortens the preparation time for war. The army can quickly reach designated areas according to the detailed and precise development plan formulated by the General Staff Department, and use railway transportation to quickly reach designated areas."

Two months later, just before the Prussian Chief of Staff General Schánhorst was forced to resign, the diplomatic military officer of the Prussian Kingdom named Karl von Clausewitz in Manresa was ordered to go north to Berlin to report his duties. With the strong recommendation of Schánhorst, Clausewitz returned to the Berlin Military School as an instructor and explained military courses to the Prince of Prussia.

...

On May 20, the Palace of Manresa.

While passing by the waiting room of the exterior building, John Gerrard, a reporter from the Times who had just finished interviewing the Regent, saw a familiar face through the open door, Charles.

Babbage, a young British mechanical engineer who is only 22 years old, is also a Gerald alumnus at Trinity College, Cambridge University.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Babbage!" John Gerrard greeted his fellow British people.

"Hello, Mr. Gerald!" The young man immediately stood up from his seat, took off his hat on his head, and replied in English.

Gerald looked at Babbage with pity and placed a large box with various machinery beside him, and a large backpack filled with various documents and drawings on the coffee table. He knew that the young man in front of him was coming to seek financial assistance from Prince Desay. In short, this was the fifth time that a reporter from The Times met this persistent Cambridge alumnus outside the living room of the palace waiting room.

"Have the Regent sent someone to reply to the news?" Gerald asked with concern.

Babbage shook his head helplessly. He had been waiting here for more than an hour today, but no one cared about it. The young man had a broad forehead and a long narrow mouth. His sharp eyes made him look a little cynical. He had a firm but not lacking humorous appearance, giving people a very profound thoughtful scholar image, but he could not convince Prince Desai to invest.

In fact, Charles.

Babbage didn't need to imitate many poor people, and came across the ocean to Manresa to try his luck, just looking for a livelihood for himself and his family. As one of the heirs of wealthy bankers in the British Empire, Charles, an excellent graduate of Cambridge University, was one of the excellent graduates.

Babbage can find a good job that is easy and decent and rewarding in any higher education in the UK, such as being a well-known mathematics professor.

However, this strange man did not do this. Based on his crazy obsession with mechanical computing, Babbage gave up working in the field of mathematical theory. This could have been a smooth road paved with flowers, and finally chose a rugged and dangerous road that no one dared to climb: to build a self-computer that does not require mathematicians, even if ordinary people have a little training, they can use - a computer!

For this reason, Babbage, who was still studying at Cambridge University, took out his private savings and received a sponsorship from his father. He first successfully copied a Pascal adder. Last year, he imitated Leibnizt's invention in the 17th century, a calculation machine that can perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and square calculation operations, namely the famous Leibniz-style hand-crank computer.

This kind of hand-crank computer is mainly composed of two parts: a fixed counter and a movable positioning mechanism. The fixed part has 12 small reading windows, corresponding to gears with ten teeth, respectively, to display numbers. The movable part has a large disc and eight small discs. Use the pointer on the disc to determine the number, then move the movable part to the corresponding position, and rotate the large disc for calculation. The movement of the movable part is controlled by a shaker, and the entire machine is driven by a gear system.

The main component of Leibniz computer is the trapezoidal axis, that is, a small cylinder with teeth of different lengths, and the tooth of the cylinder looks like a trapezoidal. This trapezoidal axis is the front drive of the gear with variable tooth numbers, which helps to smoothly realize relatively simple multiplication and division operations; at the same time, the machine is divided into movable and immovable parts, resulting in the generation of the carriage shift mechanism, simplifying the multiplication and division operations of multi-digit numbers.

However, whether it is a simple Pascal adder or a complex Leibniz-style hand-cranked computer, it is not the ultimate goal that Babbage pursues, but just two stepping stones on the ladder to success of the British. The ultimate goal of young mathematicians is to develop differential machines, use steam engines as power, drive a large number of gear mechanisms to operate, convert complex formulas of the function table into differential operations, and use simple addition to square operations.

However, this time, Babbage encountered trouble. After two imitations of the experiment, he spent all his savings, and his father no longer provided financial support. According to Babbage's drawing design for the differential machine, more than 20,000 complex parts, two steam engines as power, and a huge investment of tens of thousands of pounds. At the beginning of this year, Babbage proposed his own planning concept to the Royal Academy of Sciences in London, and expected to receive official technology, manpower and financial assistance from the UK, but encountered unexpected cold reception.

In the Royal Academy, a mathematician in charge of project pre-examination said, "We already have standard calculation rulers and hand-cranked calculators, and no longer need any other strange things." Another authoritative person also claimed: "The concept of the so-called differential machine has no value. The only purpose of this machine is to spend a lot of money"; students are also ridiculing him as "the stupid Babbage"...

After hitting a wall around London, Babbage still did not give up his lofty ideals. He resolutely rejected the kindness of his mentor and gave up the great opportunity to be a mathematics professor at the "Lucasin Lecture" in Cambridge. In mid-April this year, Babbage ran to Portsmouth, where he bought a one-way ticket, and rushed to Manresa, thousands of miles away, to try his luck. He hoped to be favored by the legendary big money owner who was kind to scientists, Prince Desay, and successfully funded himself to complete the development of the differential machine.

In fact, there is always a very far distance between wishes and reality.

In the Palace of Manresa, Desay rejected the investment in differential machines as soon as he received Babbage's application. The time traveler of course knew this talented British mathematician, inventor and mechanical engineer, and also knew his outstanding contribution to the future development of computers. Although the idea of ​​differential machines was very great, it exceeded their time for a whole century.

The 19th century when steam engines were developed was also an era when people believed that the power of machinery could do everything. Unfortunately, the severely lagging manufacturing process could not guarantee the error range of the main parts in the "differential machine" or "analytical machine" to achieve high accuracy of one thousandth of an inch. This is also the main reason why Babbage spent his whole life in another parallel world but ultimately failed. Of course, the lack of sufficient patience of the British government as an investor is an important factor.

...

Standing on the balcony on the second floor of the bedroom, Desai wrapped his hands in front of his chest and silently stared at Babbage's disappearing lonely back. He sighed in his heart that this great pioneer of developing modern computers was born at the wrong time. If it were one century later, IBM's contribution would be replaced by him. In fact, in 1985, the London Science Museum successfully built a differential engine powered by steam based on Babbage's drawings. The calculation effect completely verified that Babbage's design was not wrong.

"Andrew, maybe he should be given a chance!" At some point, Litisia came from the room to Desai.

Desai turned around, and he kissed Litisia's angel-like holy face, gently stroked her flawless arm, but answered the question irresponsible: "Oh, where is the little guy? I heard her crying in the room just now."

"I just had enough and was sleeping!" Litisia explained. While receiving Desai's comfort, Litisia quickly turned the topic back. "Didn't you always stress to me repeatedly that Isabella must be bathed in the light of technology and break free from the shackles of the Roman Catholic Church? Isn't the British inventor who just left one of the choices?"

Desai took the opportunity to embrace the woman in his arms and smiled at her, "Indeed, I never deny Babbage's innate intelligence. Unfortunately, his great invention, which was destined to be difficult to succeed, would cost our country millions of new riyals. As for the many scholars and technicians who cooperated with him, they would also waste at least 10 years of precious time."

As he said this, Desai looked at Littisia affectionately and continued to add, "I am not a philanthropist and cannot invest funds in the Mediterranean. However, you and Isabella little can. So, I decided to create a Littisia Science Foundation named after you, which will be one-fifth of my shareholding in the Mediterranean Commercial Bank and will be assigned to operate it. So, that lucky British will be the first project sponsored by the Littisia Science Foundation."

The reason why Desai changed his initial decision was not only that Litisia's advice to him was a key factor, but he also hoped that scientists could strive for self-improvement in adversity, strive for their own ideals and lofty ambitions, rather than acting as boring diners of politicians and giving up their former ideals and lofty ambitions.
Chapter completed!