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Abaques - Bouliers UNIVERSITÉ DU SAHEL - MUSÉE DES SCIENCES, DES TECHNIQUES ET DES TECHNOLOGIES - INFORMATIQUE LE BOULIER LA TABLETTE SALAMI L’ABAQUE ROMAIN OWARE OU WOURE TABLETTES – ABAQUES - BOULIERS. Les tables de calcul ou tablettes furent développées probablement en Mésopotamie et n'étaient à l'origine que des lignes tracées dans le sable. On pouvait utiliser les colonnes ainsi formées pour donner différentes valeurs aux cailloux selon leur position. Les supports physiques de ces tables se diversifièrent en utilisant la pierre, la terre cuite, le bois ou le marbre. La plus ancienne table à calculer connue a été découverte en 1846 dans l'île grecque de Salamine et est faite de marbre. Elle date approximativement du quatrième siècle avant J.C. Le mot abaque, chez les grecs abax, akos (tablettes servant à calculer) devient abacus chez les romains. Il était constitué d’une table recouverte de sable sur laquelle on dessinait à l’aide d’un stylet, les calculs pouvant être effacés au fur et à mesure en lissant avec la main. UNIVERSITÉ DU SAHEL - MUSÉE DES SCIENCES, DES TECHNIQUES ET DES TECHNOLOGIES - INFORMATIQUE BLAISE PASCAL. Né le 19 juin 1623 à Clairmont (aujourd'hui Clermont-Ferrand) en Auvergne, mort le 19 août 1662 à Paris, est un mathématicien, physicien, inventeur, philosophe, moraliste et théologien français. À 19 ans , il invente la première machine à calculer et après trois ans de développement et 50 prototypes, il la présente à ses contemporains en la dédiant au chancelier Séguier . Dénommée machine d’arithmétique, puis roue pascaline et enfin pascaline, il en construisit une vingtaine d'exemplaires dans la décennie suivante. Mathématicien de premier ordre, il crée deux nouveaux champs de recherche majeurs : tout d’abord il publie un traité de géométrie projective à seize ans ; ensuite il développe en 1654 une méthode de résolution du « problème des partis » qui, donnant naissance au cours du xviiie siècle au calcul des probabilités, influencera fortement les théories économiques modernes et les sciences sociales. UNIVERSITÉ DU SAHEL - MUSÉE DES SCIENCES, DES TECHNIQUES ET DES TECHNOLOGIES - INFORMATIQUE WILHELM SCHICKARD. Né le 22 avril 1592 à Herrenberg, mort de la peste bubonique le 23 octobre 1635 à Tübingen) est un pasteur et universitaire souabe qui devint célèbre en 1957 quand Dr Franz Hammer, un écrivain biographe de Johannes Kepler, annonça la découverte de deux lettres perdues et oubliées pendant plus de trois siècles qui décrivaient une horloge à calculer. Hammer extrapola ses hypothèses et déclara que si cette machine n'avait pas été oubliée et si ses dessins n'avaient pas été perdus pendant plus de trois siècles, elle aurait été considérée comme la première machine à calculer puisqu'elle prédatait l'invention de Pascal, la Pascaline, de vingt ans. (Source : Jean Marguin, Histoire des instruments et machines à calculer, Hermann, 1994 -ISBN 978-2705661663) UNIVERSITÉ DU SAHEL - MUSÉE DES SCIENCES, DES TECHNIQUES ET DES TECHNOLOGIES - INFORMATIQUE Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Né à Leipzig, 1er juillet 1646 et mort à Hanovre, le 14 novembre 1716. Leibniz est un philosophe, scientifique, mathématicien, logicien, diplomate, juriste, bibliothécaire et philologue allemand qui a écrit en latin, allemand et français. Il conçoit en 1673 une machine à calculer qui permet d'effectuer les quatre opérations (Source. Wikipédia) UNIVERSITÉ DU SAHEL - MUSÉE DES SCIENCES, DES TECHNIQUES ET DES TECHNOLOGIES - INFORMATIQUE LES BÂTONS DE NEPER. Le mathématicien écossais John Napier inventa en 1617 un abaque facilitant le calcul des produits, quotients, puissances et racines, qui est connu en français sous le nom de bâtons de Napier, ou réglettes de Neper. Napier, qui est déjà inventeur des logarithmes qui portent son nom, décrit sa nouvelle invention dans son ouvrage Rhabdologie (du Grec ραβδoς, règle, et λóγoς, étude). Comme pour les logarithmes, son procédé est basé sur la transformation de puissances en produits et de racines en divisions. L'abaque est constitué d'un plateau à rebord sur lequel peuvent être placées des réglettes gravées. Le bord gauche du plateau est gravé lui aussi, divisé en neuf cases numérotées de 1 à 9. Les dix types de réglettes, qui ont donné leur nom à l'ensemble du dispositif, étaient originellement en os, d'où le nom anglais de Napier's bones. Elles sont divisées en neuf cases. La case supérieure porte un nombre de 0 à 9. Les huit autres cases sont divisées en deux par un trait diagonal. Sur chaque réglette est portée la table de multiplication du nombre qui apparaît sur la case supérieure. Ainsi sur la réglette qui débute par le 7, les cases suivantes contiendront 14, 21, 28, … jusqu'à 63. Ce sont des nombres à deux chiffres, on fait figurer le chiffre des dizaines et celui des unités de part et d'autre du trait diagonal. (Source. Wikipédia) UNIVERSITÉ DU SAHEL - MUSÉE DES SCIENCES, DES TECHNIQUES ET DES TECHNOLOGIES – INFORMATIQUE Joseph Marie Charles dit Jacquard, né le 7 juillet 1752 à Lyon, mort le 7 août 1834 à Oullins, est un inventeur français, à qui l'on doit le métier à tisser semi-automatique. Fils d'un maître-fabricant en soie, il exerce de nombreuses professions dont certaines sont liées à la soie, mais également à l'imprimerie. Ayant étudié seul la mécanique, il met au point, en 1801, le métier à tisser Jacquard, dit métier Jacquard. Dans la continuité des travaux de Jacques de Vaucanson, il équipe son métier d'un mécanisme sélectionnant les fils de chaîne à l'aide d'un programme inscrit sur des cartes perforées (que l'on doit à Basile Bouchon). Il devient ainsi possible à un seul ouvrier de faire fonctionner le métier à tisser, sans l'assistance d'un tireur de lacs (emploi généralement tenu par une femme). Le 12 avril 1805, Napoléon rencontre Joseph Jacquard lors d'un séjour à Lyon. Quelques semaines plus tard, le 27 août 1805, Jacquard reçoit, de la part de l’Académie de Lyon, le prix des inventeurs. À partir de cette date, il accumule les prix d’honneur et les récompenses. Le 17 novembre 1819, il est fait chevalier de la Légion d’honneur et en 1826, il est nommé conseiller municipal d’Oullins. Amélioré par Jean-Antoine Breton en 1806 et 1817, le métier connaît un succès international. À Lyon, le métier Jacquard marque les prémices de la révolution industrielle, qui profitera beaucoup à la ville, mais qui entraînera aussi une restructuration sociale difficile. À ce titre, le métier Jacquard, accusé de mettre des tisseurs au chômage, est souvent évoqué comme l'une des causes de la révolte des Canuts de 1831. Le 16 août 1840 fut inaugurée, place Sathonay à Lyon, une statue en son honneur, faite en bronze. Déplacée en 1898 à la place de la Croix-Rousse, elle honore le « bienfaiteur des ouvriers lyonnais ». Fondue en 1942, elle est remplacée en 1947 par l'actuelle statue en pierre. Le métier Jacquard, qui a inspiré Charles Babbage, est souvent présenté comme l'un des ancêtres de l'ordinateur, il ne fait pas à proprement parler de traitement de l'information mais c'est la plus ancienne machine programmable. UNIVERSITÉ DU SAHEL - MUSÉE DES SCIENCES, DES TECHNIQUES ET DES TECHNOLOGIES – INFORMATIQUE Le métier Jacquard est un métier à tisser mis au point par le Lyonnais Joseph Marie Jacquard en 18011. La machine Jacquard combine les techniques des aiguilles de Basile Bouchon, les cartes perforées de Falcon et du cylindre de Vaucanson. La possibilité de la programmer, par utilisation de cartes perforées, fait qu'il est parfois considéré comme l'ancêtre de l'ordinateur ou du robot. Les cartes perforées guident les crochets qui soulèvent les fils de chaînes. Elles permettent de tisser des motifs complexes. Grâce à lui, il est possible pour un seul ouvrier de manipuler le métier à tisser, au lieu de plusieurs auparavant. À Lyon, le métier Jacquard fut mal reçu par les ouvriers de la soie (les Canuts) qui voyaient en lui une cause possible de chômage. Ce fut la cause de la Révolte des Canuts, où les ouvriers cassèrent les machines. À l'origine, Jacquard travailla sur ce projet afin de limiter le travail des enfants, qui étaient souvent employés comme aides par leurs parents tisseurs. Mais il regretta toute sa vie les conséquences sociales de cette innovation. En effet, les enfants durent trouver du travail ailleurs dans des usines où les conditions étaient plus difficiles. En parler lyonnais, ce métier est parfois appelé bistanclaque. Les métiers Jacquard traditionnels sont encore utilisés pour des motifs complexes comme le brocart ou le damas. Loin d’être un objet de musée, le métier Jacquard n’a pas cessé d’être utilisé et amélioré. De nos jours, les métiers Jacquard, de grandes dimensions et entièrement automatisés, produisent la plupart des tissus à motifs pour l'habillement, l'ameublement, le linge de maison, etc. UNIVERSITÉ DU SAHEL - MUSÉE DES SCIENCES, DES TECHNIQUES ET DES TECHNOLOGIES – INFORMATIQUE Jacques Vaucanson, né le 24 février 1709 à Grenoble et mort le 21 novembre 1782 à Paris, est un inventeur et mécanicien français. Il a inventé plusieurs automates. Ses dispositions pour la mécanique se révèlent de très bonne heure. Sa mère le conduit tous les dimanches chez certaines vieilles dames, qui ont l’habitude de se débarrasser de lui en le reléguant dans une chambre non habitée, dont le principal meuble est une grande et antique horloge. Frappé du mouvement égal et constant du pendule, l’enfant veut en pénétrer la cause et y parvient, au point d’exécuter, à l’aide de son couteau et de quelques morceaux de bois, une horloge qui fonctionne avec assez de régularité. Il commence par réparer les horloges et les montres de son quartier. Il est élève au Collège de Juilly de 1717 à 1722, et souhaite suivre sa vocation religieuse.
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