Speculative Fact #331: Charles Babbage and his Steam Punk Computer

If you are already a steampunk enthusiast, then Charles Babbage should be a household name. For everyone else, here's what you need to know.  Charles Babbage was a polymath during the Victorian era. Born December 1st, 1791, he lived nearly as long as the queen herself. 

His was an expansive intellect and he studied natural philosophy, astronomy, religion, cryptography, metrology, mathematics, and engineering. But, for our purposes, you need to know he was one of the first to come up with the theoretical underpinnings for computing.  

The thing basically consisted of stacks of gear-based addition units arranged into columns in clever enough ways to be able to handle the four primary operations of arithmetic. Crucially, it could store results on punchcards and it could also accept programs ("formulae") on punchcards. - MICHAEL BYRNE

Though not completed while he was alive, in 1991 his "difference engine" was built based on his specs using materials that would have been available during his time period. In other words, they built a steampunk computer. 
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-Rob Cameron