Pehr (Per) Georg Scheutz (23 September 1785 – 22 May 1873) was a Swedish lawyer, translator, and

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an id ...

, who is now best known for his pioneering work in computer technology.

Life

Scheutz studied law at

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion legal expert and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

(he translated several works of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

and

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

) before turning predominantly to liberal

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

and

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

He is most known for his inventions; the best known of these is the

Scheutzian calculation engine A difference engine is an automatic mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial functions. It was designed in the 1820s, and was first created by Charles Babbage. The name, the difference engine, is derived from the method of divided ...

, invented in 1837 and finalized in 1843. This machine, which he constructed with his son Edvard Scheutz, was based on

Charles Babbage Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered ...

difference engine A difference engine is an automatic mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial functions. It was designed in the 1820s, and was first created by Charles Babbage. The name, the difference engine, is derived from the method of divided d ...

. In 1851 they obtained funds from government to build an improved model, which was created in 1853 (was roughly the size of a piano), and subsequently demonstrated at the World's Fair in Paris, 1855. The machine was then sold in 1856 to the Dudley Observatory in Albany,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. In 1857 British government ordered another model, which was built by Donkin's company in 1859. The devices were used for creating

logarithm In mathematics, the logarithm is the inverse function to exponentiation. That means the logarithm of a number to the base is the exponent to which must be raised, to produce . For example, since , the ''logarithm base'' 10 of ...

ic tables. While the machine was not perfect and could not produce complete tables,

Martin Wiberg Martin Wiberg (September 4, 1826 – December 29, 1905) was a Swedish inventor. He enrolled at Lund University in 1845 and became a Doctor of Philosophy in 1850. He is known as a computer pioneer for his c. 1859 (1857-1860) invention of a machi ...

reworked the construction from the ground up and in 1875 created a compact device which would print complete tables. Scheutz was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1856.

Life

See also

References

Further reading