Contributions: Babbage, known as the father of the computer, also invented our first-class mail system, calculated the first reliable mortality tables for the insurance industry, and designed the first speedometer.

December 26, 1791:   Born in Teignmouth, Devonshire, United Kingdom
1810:   Enters Trinity College, Cambridge
1817:   Receives MA from Cambridge
1820:   Founds the Analytical Society with Herschel and Peacock, and they publish Examples to the Differential and Integral Calculus
1823:   Starts work on the Difference Engine through funding from the British Government
1827:   Publishes Table of Logarithms of the Natural Numbers from 1 to 108000
1828:   Becomes the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge (Babbage held this position for 12 years, although he never taught a class.)
1830:  Publishes Reflections on the Decline of Science in England
1831:  Founds the British Association for the Advancement of Science
1832:  Publishes Economy of Manufactures and Machinery
1833:  Begins work on the Analytical Engine
1834:  Founds the Statistical Society of London
1848:  Publishes Thoughts on the Principles of Taxation with Reference to a Property Tax, and its Exceptions
1851:  Publishes The Exposition of 1851; or Views of the Industry, the Science, and the Government of England
1864:   Publishes Passages from the Life of a Philosopher
October 18, 1871:   Dies at his home in Dorset Street, London, England