Charles Babbage is recognized today as the Father of Computers because his impressive designs for the Difference Engine and Analytical Engine foreshadowed the invention of the modern electronic digital computer.  Try and get a biography of Babbage if you can.  He led a fascinating life, as did all the folks involved in the history of computers. He also invented the cowcatcher, dynamometer, standard railroad gauge, uniform postal rates, occulting lights for lighthouses, Greenwich time signals, heliograph opthalmoscope. He also had an interest in cyphers and lock-picking, but abhorred street musicians.