Early Life, Family and Training Herbert Ivan Babbage was born in Adelaide, Australia, on 18 August 1875. His lineage connects him to a significant intellectual history; he was the great-grandson of the mathematician and engineer Charles Babbage. This connection to a man who conceived the programmable computer provides a sharp contrast to the visual, impressionist path Ivan would eventually take. His father, Charles Whitmore Babbage, worked as a bank clerk and was also a sketch artist, while his mother, Amelia Babbage, hailed from Frimley, Surrey. The family's trajectory shifted when they mo…