Charles Babbage
1791–1871 · British · Victorian Era
Known for: Designed the Analytical Engine—the conceptual forerunner of the modern computer
Charles Babbage designed the Analytical Engine in the 1830s—a machine that contained all the essential elements of a modern computer: input, output, memory, and processing unit. He was a century ahead of his time, and his machine was never completed because Victorian-era manufacturing couldn't achieve the precision his design required.
He was brilliant, irascible, and famously hated street musicians—he campaigned to ban organ grinders from London, which may have been a reasonable reaction to 19th-century noise pollution.
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