s where many famous and prominent people would be in attendance. Although over the years and believed by some as a result from the death of his daughter Shelley, who drowned near La Spezia in July of 1822 and 5 years later the death of his 35-year-old wife Georgiana in August 1827 he became a very bitter old man. It is also believed that the bitterness is in result of not receiving grants and the misinterpretation that not receiving funds for the continuation of his advancements in science were in a way a means to controlling or impeding the advancement of science. Babbage had many dreams. One was a dream about a machine that would perform calculations. He called it the Differential Engine. This is a dream he would never see accomplished but would burn in him with such passion that it would keep him devoted to achieving it for the rest of his life. He had many detailed drawings and even achieved the feat of a small prototype. As a result of a man who was very scrutinizing and quite easily a perfectionist, he would always find a better way to achieve a process and therefore never finish what he started. He hired an engineer and machinist by the name of Joseph Clement to construct the engine and to oversee the fabrication of special tools. Unfortunately, little remains of Babbage's prototype computing machines. One reason is that critical tolerances required by Babbage's machines exceeded the level of technology available at the time. Also, though formal recognition of his work was tendered by respected institutions such as the Astronomical Society of London, the British government suspended funding for his Difference Engine in 1832, and after an agonizing waiting period, finally killed the project in 1842. This was only a small cause to the death of the Difference engine. In 1830 Babbage wanted to move the engine's workshop to his house on Dorset Street. A fireproof work shop was constructed (again as a result of some par...
