You — and/or your children, students, etc. — could build your own copy of the original Analytical Engine! Out of LEGOs!! (Along with other items I’ve mentioned in my earlier posts, LEGOs are another thing I love: I estimate that at least a third of my children’s toys are LEGO sets…)
OK, this LEGO model wouldn’t actually function. ☹ But hey, the Analytical Engine was never originally built and wouldn’t have functioned either, so this feature — being nonfunctioning — would actually bolster this model’s authenticity!!?! ☺
Here’s another view of the proposed model, this time with LEGO minifigures of Lovelace and Babbage:
For reference, here are images of Lovelace and Babbage wearing dark clothes ≈like that:
(Don’t worry about the beard appearing with the proposed minifigure for Babbage; that detail should get corrected.)
For reference for the Analytical Engine, first actually consider illustrations of it from Sydney Padua’s recent book (graphic novel) featuring it, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage:
Then consider Babbage’s actual illustration, a horizontal cross-section:
If you think the proposed LEGO Analytical Engine needs to be made more accurate, well, if the LEGO company approves it then they might actually improve it, hopefully in consultation with historically accurate sources. For perspective on the LEGO company’s work producing models, I’ll say that I think their Architecture division has been doing a nice job reflecting the spirit of various monuments such as the Leaning Tower of Pisa:
The possibility of voting for LEGO models has been going on for several years now. Initially the name for this process was CUUSOO, which seems to mean “to wish something into existence” in Japanese — this process appears to have started in Japan. One of the first widely popular sets that was approved this way was for Minecraft:
If you will indeed support / vote for the proposed LEGO model of the Analytical Engine with Lovelace and Babbage, then access the proposal’s website, https://ideas.lego.com/projects/102740, and click the blue “Support” button which is along the right side (you may need to scroll down the page a little). When you’re prompted, create your own LEGO ID (completing the form etc. for this may take a couple of minutes). Then, finalize your support (by clicking the proposal’s “Support” button again)!
By the way, here are a few other places where this proposed LEGO set is featured — so if you want you can link to these social media from yours…:
I hope you will support this proposal to promote some Computing history in popular culture. I look forward to eventually giving one of these sets to my children! ☺
Regards,
Hugh
