Babbage in the Dragon’s Den
On the 18th October 1871 the English mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage died. Babbage is often called the Father of the Computer and I am going to celebrate his achievements by calling the 18th October in our school Babbage Day.
One activity I did think of to mark the occasion was to get children to imagine they were Charles Babbage and that they had to pitch the idea for the Analytical Engine in the Dragon’s Den.
The Analytical Engine was never built during Babbage’s lifetime mainly due to a lack of funding so I thought having Babbage pitch his idea to the Dragons would be interesting. I am thinking of doing this with Year 8 and they will have to write their pitch and then present it.
(I was excited to discover at the beginning of the year that one of my tutees is a direct descendent of Charles Babbage – his mother’s maiden name is Babbage.)
