Early Machines Devised to Solve Problems in Logic
The world's first real logic machine, in the sense that it could actually be used to solve formal logic problems, was invented in the early 1800s by the British scientist and statesman Charles Stanhope (third Earl of Stanhope). A man of many talents, the Earl designed a device called the Stanhope Demonstrator, which was a small box with a window in the top, along with two different colored slides that the user pushed into slots in the sides. Although Stanhope's brainchild doesn't sound like much it was a start, Stanhope wouldn't publish…