From the course: Future Proofing Your Data Science Career

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Data throughout history

Data throughout history

From the course: Future Proofing Your Data Science Career

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Data throughout history

- A good place to start when considering the history of data science is in the early part of the 19th century. An English inventor and mechanical engineer named Charles Babbage designed a machine to mimic human learning and problem solving. In June of 1822, he submitted a paper to the Royal Society in England with the title "Note on the Application of Machinery to the Computation "of Very Big Mathematical Tables." Quite a title. Babbage proposed building an automated mechanical calculator called the difference engine. It was designed to be really the first calculator. A few years later, he proposed what he called the analytical engine to provide a fully-fledged general purpose computation device. Unfortunately, a working version was never completed in his lifetime, but in 1991, a version of the difference engine was built at the London Science Museum. It consists of 8000 parts. It weighs five tons, and it measures 11 feet…

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