Overview
Policarpo de Balzola (1813-1879) was a prominent mathematician, inventor and scientific author from Irún, Spain. He overcame family tragedy and poverty early on to become a largely self-taught polymath. De Balzola is best remembered for inventing an advanced mechanical calculator called the "Arithmetic Keyboard" in 1845. He also championed metric system adoption across Spain through his books and public campaigns.
However, the brilliant Arithmetic Keyboard was not his only invention. De Balzola created several other devices to solve common practical problems of his era related to surveying, calendar tracking etc. He authored multiple textbooks explicating complex subjects like mathematics, metrics and philosophy for the masses. Accounts suggest he was also public-spirited, engaging company with an underlying sense of humor and social conscience.
Early Life and Background
Records tracing the Balzola ancestry reveal a long lineage of church musicians and clergymen. Policarpo‘s great-grandfather Miguel de Balzola Emparanza served as organist at the Basilica of Santa Maria in Gernika. His compositions and manuscripts are still preserved in local church archives.
Policarpo‘s father, Miguel de Balzola Garamendi (b. 1760) continued this ecclesiastical music tradition, succeeding his own father as Santa Maria‘s organist in 1777. However in 1780, twenty-year-old Miguel Jr. relocated about 30 km southeast to take up the post of choirmaster and organist at Irún‘s Church of Santa Maria del Juncal.
Church baptismal records show Miguel married local girl Maria Josefa Iparraguirre in 1783. They had three children by 1800 – Antonia, Felipe and finally Policarpo himself, born on January 26, 1813. Tragically, Miguel‘s steady career was cut short in 1817 when he was suddenly incapacitated by a paralytic disorder. Though bedridden, he lingered six more years before passing away in 1823 when Policarpo was only ten.
As Miguel‘s only son, young Policarpo now had to provide for his mother and sisters. But an unexpected opportunity set him on the path to realizing his latent scientific talents. In the late 1820s, an unnamed military engineer arrived in Irún to bolster the town fortifications. He discerned the boy‘s potential gift for mathematics and voluntarily tutored Policarpo in geometry and technical drawing.
This brief mentoring constituted De Balzola‘s only formal education. Yet it equipped him with the concepts and self-confidence for navigating an eventful career spanning inventions, writing and civic leadership primarily self-developed through diligent effort over time.
Now let us trace Policarpo‘s early professional journey in greater detail…
Early Career
By 1830, the 17-year old Policarpo relocated nearly 400 km northwest to manage a government-run model farm near Madrid under a special agricultural improvement initiative. He spent five years there before pneumonia forced him home to Irún in 1835.
After regaining health, he relocated about 100 km north to Burgos where he received certification as a notary public or escribano in 1837. This qualified De Balzola to undertake legal transactions like registering contracts, wills etc. providing financial stability.
Policarpo later returned to Irún accepting clerical appointments in the City Council. From 1847-50, he worked in the nearby town of Tolosa as a licensed surveyor or "perito agrimensor". Gaining expertise in measuring land parcels and structural dimensions proved crucial for informing his subsequent inventions.
Around 1848, Policarpo married Gabriela Echevarría, also a lifelong Irún resident. They raised four children – Isabel, Hermogenes, Valeriano and Soledad.
Now equipped with steady income and family security, De Balzola shifted focus toward his latent passion since youth – conceptualizing practical mechanical devices to solve quotidian problems. This inventiveness culminating in 1845 with his iconic Arithmetic Keyboard calculating machine.
The Arithmetic Keyboard Calculating Machine
The "Teclado Aritmético" as De Balzola named his invention was an advanced mechanical calculator for easily performing arithmetic operations like a simple desktop computer. Its piano-style architecture incorporated series of toothed wheels representing digits which could be set by pressing number keys arranged like a musical keyboard.
Turning a chosen key rotated corresponding axles bearing 10 movable markers representing digits 0 through 9. This value was displayed in a window above to user. Further keys allowed selecting the operation type viz. addition, subtraction, multiplication etc. Finally pulling a side lever activated the built-in calculator mechanism to output the result through intricate interactions between the component gears.
Fig 1. Schematic of De Balzola‘s Arithmetic Keyboard showing internal mechanism
The Arithmetic Keyboard‘s novel user interface resembling then-familiar piano keyboards enabled relatively simple use compared to prior machines. However its mechanical complexity required significant dexterity and practice to operate smoothly.
De Balzola spent nearly five years perfecting the device design and submitted a Spanish patent application in 1845 noting:
"Arithmetic and algebraic calculations are indispensable to society‘s progress…My Keyboard facilitates complex computations via simple digits manipulation requiring no advanced mathematical knowledge."
This vision as a handy calculation tool for the masses positioned it as an early "personal computer". Conceptually it built upon 17th century philosopher-mathematicians like Blaise Pascal and Gottfried Leibniz‘s foundational work on mechanical calculation but realized a user-friendly 20th century form factor.
Commercializing the Invention
In 1849, De Balzola‘s family established a company to manufacture and sell the Arithmetic Keyboard. His brother Hermogenes handled business aspects from Irún while Policarpo engaged in product development. To publicize the new machine, he published an eponymous monograph "Memoria sobre un Teclado Aritmetico" explaining its working through detailed diagrams and use cases.
Priced at 4000 reales apiece, the production targeted government agencies, universities and large trading firms as buyers. Indeed the machine found patrons in the University of Madrid and the National Museum of Natural Sciences. Queen Isabella II herself witnessed a demonstration during her royal tour through the Basque Country.
However, the Arithmetic Keyboard‘s ambitious scale and intricacy proved its undoing commercially. Manufacturing eachPush-wheel calculator prototype demanded 500 hours of intricate precision tooling spread over two years with significant material costs. But market reception remained lukewarm due to the significant operator expertise needed. Only twelve final units were built and sold between 1849-53 before ceasing production. De Balzola‘s bold vision for democratizing calculation had surpassed prevailing 19th century realities.
Other Inventions
Undeterred by one failure, De Balzola continued exercising his prolific inventiveness across his 40s and 50s working on several other novel devices:
| Invention | Year | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Perpetual Calendar | 1846 | Mechanical calendar displaying day/date/month/year/phases automatically adjusted for leap years |
| Land Surveying Instrument | 1847 | Portable device for land surveyors to easily measure areas/volumes onsite without calculations |
| Exam Scoring Device | 1848 | Mechanical marker to score multiple choice test papers quickly |
He patented and marketed these jointly with his signature Arithmetic Keyboard through the established family startup. Unfortunately commercial headwinds remained insurmountable and only a few working models of each device were sold.
Yet De Balzola‘s restless creativity distinguished him as a true independant inventor constantly seeking to leverage his mechanical, mathematical and technical skills for public service regardless of the business outcomes.
Promoting Metric Adoption in Spain
In 1849, the Spanish government recognizing De Balzola‘s wider reputation appointed him as an educator to the national Metric Commission‘s regional arm in Basque provinces. The commission sought to standardize Spain‘s bewildering array of traditional weight/volume units like cuartas, arrobas, fanegas etc. through new decimal-based metric measures.
De Balzola vigorously applied himself to this latest "technology transfer" role with customary zeal. He conducted extensive public outreach activity over 1849-53 to promote meters, grams, liters etc. through all available channels – pamphlets, workshops, newspaper columns and more.
| Traditional Spanish Units | Metric Units |
|---|---|
| 8 maravedís = 1 cuarto | 1 meter = 100 centimeters |
| 4 cuartos = 1 pie | 1 liter = 10 deciliters |
| 2 pies = 1 vara | 1 gram = 1000 milligrams |
| 20 varas = 1 acre |
Table 1. Comparison of traditional Spanish units versus standardized metric system
These heterogeneous traditional Spanish customary units caused much confusion and inaccuracies for regular citizens besides hindering trade and government. For instance, the standard unit of length or "pie" could represent 0.189 meters in Barcelona or up to 0.296 meters in Castille!
Yet cultural inertia and lack of coordination hampered metric usage from taking firm widespread root initially. De Balzola made breakthrough progress catalyzing public understanding and government enforcement of new National Metric Commission guidelines in his native Basque Country through sustained grassroots initiatives.
As an influential capstone, his 1853 textbook "Aritmética con la explicación del Sistema métrico" (Arithmetic Explaining the Metric System) became recommended reading in provincial schools explaining specifics through copious numerical illustrations which resonated better with the mathematically-inclined Basque populace. The volume proved so immensely popular that De Balzola wrote four more books elaborating this theme over the next decade.
These prolific high-impact writing efforts combined with his metric advocacy touring earned De Balzola public commendations from the National Metric Commission in 1856 praising him as possibly its single most effective mass-level change agent in Spain. Such recognition marked the culmination of his relatively brief but eventfulMetric Commission tenure before returning his energies to regional administration roles.
Through all services, Literary and scientific endeavors however De Balzola exhibited certain outstanding human qualities which deserve discussing as well…
Personality and Outlook
Contemporary first-person descriptions portray De Balzola as an extremely affable and outgoing personality who loved dancing, joking but also serious discussion across the socioeconomic spectrum. He nurtured a deep lifelong love for community building and passing knowledge freely to masses without regard for fame or pecuniary rewards.
Some critics dismissed De Balzola early on as merely a frivolous tinkerer and insignificant minor bureaucrat lacking high academic qualifications or business shrewdness. Indeed his cheerful demeanor camouflaged inner determination. But sheer diligence combined with expanded writing enabled establishing technical expertise comparable to Spain‘s foremost intellectual circles.
De Balzola achieved this the hard way through self-study rather than university credentials. His personal memoirs highlight tirelessly consuming foreign textbooks, academic literature and machinery catalogs late into nights to continuously upgrade his mechanical engineering, economic and philosophical understanding after completing day jobs.
Such devotion to auto-didactic self-cultivation against adversity reflected the essence of De Balzola according to his son Hermogenes:
"My father discovered his life‘s purpose through self-teaching. Lacking formal higher education, he upgraded his expertise via hands-on building things, reading voraciously and interacting people from all walks…This molded his outlook into first helping townsfolk before chasing individual success or glory."
Indeed De Balzola distinguished himself through commendable priorities of using his expanding knowledge for benefitting common citizens through medical equipment, easier measurements, calculation utilities etc. rather than narrowly advancing his personal standing. This principled approach channeled the finest virtues of Spain‘s Ilustración movement promoting science for societal improvement.
Now entering the winter of his life, the agricultural model farm manager transformed into distinguished elder statesman of Irún as the 1860s commenced…
Later Life
De Balzola continued serving as city secretary and clerk in Irún‘s municipal council for over thirty years until retiring in 1868 aged 55. Contemporaneous commentary suggests he remained actively engaged in cultural and civic affairs thereafter driven by customary mental vigor though his physical health gradually failed.
Unfortunately not much specific information survives regarding Policarpo‘s later years. We know neither the exact circumstances nor the precise illness responsible for his 1879 demise after a prolonged declining sickness.
But De Balzola‘s beloved hometown gave their eminent native son a worthy farewell. On February 2nd, 1879 fellow Irún citizens from all strata gathered for De Balzola‘s funeral mass at the local Juncal parish church where his father had once played the organ. The mourners then solemnly escorted his coffin in procession to the cemetery.
The City Council posthumously honored Policarpo‘s memory and contributions to Irún over the decades by designating the major street flanking the government district as Paseo de Policarpo Balzola. This gesture immortalized one of the town‘s most illustrious adopted sons.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Policarpo de Balzola packed diverse accomplishments across civic leadership, inventions and writing within his 66 years despite life‘s early cruelties and later financial struggles. Each sphere illuminated different facets of his multi-talented persona.
While the Arithmetic Keyboard calculating machine brought him fleeting contemporary notoriety, today De Balzola is best remembered for effectively championing Spain‘s vital transition to the decimal metric system through his unique classroom to field advocacy matching technical competence with irrepressible boots-on-the-ground evangelism.
Indeed his personal memoirs best encapsulate Balzola‘s outlook in life:
"My machines aim to reduce people‘s arithmetical burdens thereby elevating more time for community advancement and noble pleasures pursuit."
Thus De Balzola exemplified applying scientific knowledge and inventiveness towards public services throughout his eventful life. By freely sharing his intellectual gifts with hometown citizens rather than pursuing selfish benefits, he displayed admirable virtues transcending any particular technical achievement. Irún still honors this well-rounded native son through street names and memorials as an inspirational figure.
So whenever visiting Irún next, take a stroll down Paseo Policarpo Balzola to appreciate this shrewd Basque inventor, mathematician and change-maker who diligently educated and elevated ordinary Spaniards through his works heralding Spain‘s modernization wave in the 1800s.
