2015-12-26 Sat

Born in 1791, December 26th is the birth anniversary of Charles Babbage who is widely regarded as a pioneer in the history of computing. Although unable to build a complete machine due to the technology (or lack thereof) available at the time, Babbage drew up visionary plans of the ‘Babbage Engine’. In 1985, the Science Museum began building a complete Babbage Engine based on the pioneer’s plans and completed the working model in November 1991, a month before his 200th birth anniversary.

A stamp of a face value of 22 pence was issued in 1991 to commemorate Charles Babbage’s 200th birth year. The stamp is multicoloured and printed using the photogravure technique.