John Graham-Cumming, familiar to readers here as an occasional auditor of the Met Office's computer code, has a new project afoot - he wants to recreate Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine:
It's time to build the Analytical Engine
I hope to finish Babbage's dream and build an Analytical Engine for public display. I've launched a project called Plan 28 to raise the money and bring together people to work on the Engine. Babbage left behind extensive documentation of the Analytical Engine, the most complete of which can be seen in his Plan 28 (and 28a), which are preserved in a mahogany case that Babbage had constructed especially for the purpose.
Details of the plans are here. As always, there's a need for money, detail here.
And lastly, and also from JG-C, there's this interesting snippet:
So, who's the father of dendroclimatology? Charles Babbage has a strong claim.
I bet you didn't know that. Details here.