Charles Babbage Charles Babbage Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Considered by some to be a "father of the computer", Babbage is credited with inventing the first mechanical computer that eventually led to more complex electronic designs, though all the essential ideas of modern computers are to be found in Babbage's analytical engine. His varied work in other fields has led him to be described as "pre-eminent" among the many polymaths of his century. Parts of Babbage's incomplete
Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences instruction hall and classroom) and Computer Science/Engineering (CS/E, a office and facility building near Bren Hall and IERF) were demolished in January 2007. ICS helped found the Ada Byron Research Center (ABRC), which helps minorities in the field of Computer Science. Named in honor of the 19th century female mathematician Ada Lovelace, ABRC aims at not only increases minority researchers, but closing the digital divide. The current director is the Dean Richardson of ICS. The California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), is a multidisciplinary research organization within the University of California. UC Irvine and UC San Diego currently