As a field, computer science occupies a unique scientific space, in that its subject matter can exist in both physical and abstract realms. An artifact such as software is both tangible and not, and must be classified as something in between, or "liminal." The study and production of liminal artifacts allows for creative possibilities that are, and have been, possible only in computer science. In It Began With Babbage, Subrata Dasgupta examines the unique history of computer science in terms of its creative innovations, spanning back to Charles Babbage in 1819. Since all artifacts of computer science are conceived with a use in mind, the computer scientist is not concerned with the natural laws that govern disciplines like physics or chemistry; the computer scientist is more concerned with the concept of purpose. This requirement lends itself to a type of creative thinking that, as Dasgupta shows us, has exhibited itself throughout the history of computer science. From Babbage's Difference Engine, through the Second World War, to the establishment of the term "Computer Science" in 1956, It Began With Babbage traces a lively and complete history of computer science.
...MoreReview Jonathan P. Bowen (2015) Review of "It Began with Babbage: The Genesis of Computer Science". British Society for the History of Mathematics Bulletin (pp. 263-265).
Similar Citations
Book
Watson, Ian;
(2012)
The Universal Machine: From the Dawn of Computing to Digital Consciousness
(/isis/citation/CBB001250522/)
Article
Brian Coghlan;
Brian Randell;
Paul Hockie;
Trish Gonzalez;
David McQuillan;
Reddy O'Regan;
(January-March 2021)
Investigating the Work and Life of Percy Ludgate
(/isis/citation/CBB317837515/)
Article
Raúl Rojas;
(January-March 2021)
The Computer Programs of Charles Babbage
(/isis/citation/CBB256735074/)
Book
Swade, Doron;
Babbage, Charles;
(2001)
The Difference Engine: Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer
(/isis/citation/CBB000302194/)
Chapter
Bullock, Seth;
(2008)
Charles Babbage and the Emergence of Automated Reason
(/isis/citation/CBB000760380/)
Article
Belanger, Jay;
Stein, Dorothy;
(2005)
Shadowy Vision: Spanners in the Mechanization of Mathematics
(/isis/citation/CBB000501381/)
Book
Jones, C.B.;
Lloyd, J.L.;
(2011)
Dependable and Historic Computing: Essays Dedicated to Brian Randell on the Occasion of his 75th Birthday
(/isis/citation/CBB511443626/)
Book
Yost, Jeffrey R.;
(2005)
The computer industry
(/isis/citation/CBB001180688/)
Book
Gleick, James;
(2011)
The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood
(/isis/citation/CBB001421267/)
Chapter
Swade, Doron D.;
(2011)
Reconstructions as Experimental History: Historic Computing Machines
(/isis/citation/CBB001250771/)
Book
Glushkov, Viktor;
(1982)
Osnovy bezbumazhnoi informatiki
(/isis/citation/CBB001180063/)
Thesis
Parisi, David P.;
(2008)
Touch Machines: An Archeology of Haptic Interfacing
(/isis/citation/CBB001561275/)
Book
Basil Mahon;
(2017)
The Forgotten Genius of Oliver Heaviside: A Maverick of Electrical Science
(/isis/citation/CBB660307267/)
Book
Joseph Fitsanakis;
(2020)
Redesigning Wiretapping: The Digitization of Communications Interception
(/isis/citation/CBB949296828/)
Article
Antonio Di Meo;
(2020)
Communicating Science: A Modern Event
(/isis/citation/CBB151156196/)
Thesis
Kim, Richard S.Y.;
(2010)
Cyber-Surveillance: A Case Study in Policy and Development
(/isis/citation/CBB001567169/)
Article
Green, Nile;
(2013)
Shared Infrastructures, Informational Asymmetries: Persians and Indians in Japan, c.1890--1930
(/isis/citation/CBB001421531/)
Book
Coopersmith, Jonathan C.;
(2015)
Faxed: The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine
(/isis/citation/CBB001422611/)
Book
James W. Cortada;
(2016)
All the Facts: A History of Information in the United States since 1870
(/isis/citation/CBB010653555/)
Article
Green, Nile;
(2013)
Spacetime and the Muslim Journey West: Industrial Communications in the Making of the “Muslim World”
(/isis/citation/CBB001212532/)
Be the first to comment!