From the Archives of PragPub Magazine, June 2018
The Soirée: A Moment in the History of the Computer, with Digressions
By Michael Swaine
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We are in the heart of London at the dawn of the Victorian age — literally the dawn of the age, as the teen-aged Victoria has only recently been crowned— at a Saturday afternoon soirée at 1 Dorset Street.
This is basically all true. I can’t confirm that Darwin was present on that particular day, but he was a frequenter of Babbage’s soirées at that exact time, at least in part to chat up the ladies.
Not the Ripper
You may possibly recognize the name of the street. Dorset Street, in the East End of London, was known as “the worst street in London,” and not only because it was the scene of the brutal murder of Mary Jane Kelly by Jack the Ripper. Dorset Street could be…
