Computer pioneer, Charles Babbage, celebrated on latest Innovation in Science 50p…

Charles Babbage was an English mathematician and inventor who originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. He is even renowned for being the ‘Father of Computers’!

In the year marking the 150th year of his passing, The Royal Mint has commemorated him on a brand new UK 50p, the latest issue in their Innovation in Science series.

2021 UK Charles Babbage 50p

This brand new 50p, designed by Nigel Tudman and Jas Bhamra, features a clever design which links Babbage’s extraordinary machinery to the digital age.

Believing scientific advancements should benefit everyone, Charles Babbage is the perfect addition to The Royal Mint’s Innovation in Science series.

Excitingly, this brand new 50p is now available in Brilliant Uncirculated quality for JUST £4.50 (+p&p) for collectors. To secure yours today, in Official Change Checker packaging, simply click here >>

The Pioneer of Computing

Boasting an impressive career in calculus, astronomy, and arithmetics , Charles Babbage held the title of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University.

The 1820s saw Babbage’s development of his ‘Difference Engine’, which was a machine that could perform mathematical calculations. Initially constructed as a six-wheeled model, it was later developed into a bigger, better, and more complex machine – Difference Engine 2.

However, his fame as a computer pioneer largely came from his invention, the Analytical Engine. It could perform any arithmetical calculation using punched cards, as well as a memory unit to store numbers – the fundamental components of today’s computers.

Babbage’s ideas were well ahead of their time, making him a perfect addition to The Royal Mint’s Innovation in Science series.

The Innovation in Science Series

This exciting series kick-started back in 2019 with the issue of the Stephen Hawking 50p.

2019 Stephen Hawking 50p

In 2019, less than a year since his death, The Royal Mint released a Stephen Hawking 50p coin, honouring his works as one of the most influential physicists of the modern age.

He became the very first person to be celebrated in The Royal Mint’s Innovators in Science series and only the third person to be commemorated on a coin within a year of their death (the others being Winston Churchill and the Queen Mother!)

The reverse of the coin, designed by Edwina Ellis, features a stylised black hole and the inscription ‘Stephen Hawking’ . It also shows the Bekenstein-Hawking formula, which describes the thermodynamic entropy of a black hole!

2020 Rosalind Franklin 50p

In the year that would have marked her 100th birthday, The Royal Mint released a 50p celebrating the life and crucial work of Rosalind Franklin, the first female scientist to be commemorated on a UK coin.

David Knapton’s striking design of this coin, features a depiction of Rosalind Franklin’s X-ray, ‘Photograph 51’, which revealed the helical structure of DNA, in her laboratory at King’s College, London.

One of Britain’s greatest scientists, Franklin made a crucial finding to the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA.

2021 John Logie Baird 50p

It’s hard to imagine life without television but back in the early 1920s, it was a complete unknown.

That was until John Logie Baird successfully produced televised objects in outline in 1924, transmitted recognisable human faces in 1925, and demonstrated the televising of moving objects in 1926.

Issued in 20201, to celebrate the life and works of the ‘Father of Television’, the design of this 50p coin features key milestones from Baird’s life, presented between the lines of transmission radiating from the centre of the coin.

We’re so excited to see the 2021 UK Charles Babbage 50p join the marvelous Innovation in Science series and we’re sure this brand new coin will prove incredibly popular with collectors!

Will you be securing these coins for your collection? Let us know in the comments!

Secure the 2021 UK Charles Babbage 50p in Brilliant Uncirculated quality!

Own the brand new 2021 UK Charles Babbage 50p in CERTIFIED Brilliant Uncirculated quality for JUST £4.50 (+p&p).

Your superior collector quality coin has been protectively encapsulated in Official Change Checker packaging to preserve for generations to come.