In 1769, the court of Empress Maria Theresa witnessed one of that era's most amazing feats of engineering: a machine that could play chess. Artfully constructed by a Hungarian nobleman named Wolfgang von Kempelen, the chess machine played a unique game against each opponent, far surpassing the abilities of all its fellow automata. Throughout its eighty-five year career, audiences across Europe and the Americas flocked to see the mechanical marvel seemingly capable of human intelligence; Napoleon, Charles Babbage, and Benjamin Franklin were among its challengers, and Edgar Allen Poe wrote an essay attempting to explain how it worked.
- ISBN10 0974311022
- ISBN13 9780974311029
- Publish Date 6 May 2014
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Fiery Studios
- Format Paperback
- Pages 216
- Language English