Martin Wiberg was born in Viby

Viby, Kristianstad

Viby is a locality situated in Kristianstad Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 991 inhabitants in 2010....

, Scania, Sweden, enrolled at Lund University

Lund University

Lund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...

 in 1845 and became a Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 in 1850.

He is known as a computer pioneer

History of computing hardware

The history of computing hardware is the record of the ongoing effort to make computer hardware faster, cheaper, and capable of storing more data....

 for his 1875 invention of a machine the size of a sewing machine

Sewing machine

A sewing machine is a textile machine used to stitch fabric, cards and other material together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies...

 that could print logarithm

Logarithm

The logarithm of a number is the exponent by which another fixed value, the base, has to be raised to produce that number. For example, the logarithm of 1000 to base 10 is 3, because 1000 is 10 to the power 3: More generally, if x = by, then y is the logarithm of x to base b, and is written...

ic tables. The tables were subsequently published in English, French and German. The device was investigated by the French academy of science which also wrote an extensive report on it. The device was inspired by the similar work done by Per Georg Scheutz

Per Georg Scheutz

Pehr Georg Scheutz was a 19th-century Swedish lawyer, translator, and inventor, who is best known for his pioneering work in computer technology.Scheutz studied law at Lund University, graduating in 1805...

 and has similarities with Charles Babbage's difference engine

Difference engine

A difference engine is an automatic, mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial functions. Both logarithmic and trigonometric functions can be approximated by polynomials, so a difference engine can compute many useful sets of numbers.-History:...

. (Scheutz machine was based on the difference engine.) The device is preserved at Tekniska museet (The Technical Museum) of Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

. Wiberg failed to sell his machine, and also failed to sell the output tables due to their bad looks.

Apart from this invention, Wiberg invented numerous other devices and gadgets, among these a cream separator

Cream separator

A separator is a centrifugal device that separates milk into cream and skimmed milk. Separation was commonly performed on farms in the past. Most farmers milked a few cows, usually by hand, and separated milk. Some of the skimmed milk was consumed while the rest was used to feed calves and pigs...

 and a pulse jet engine

Pulse jet engine

A pulse jet engine is a type of jet engine in which combustion occurs in pulses. Pulsejet engines can be made with few or no moving parts, and are capable of running statically....

. None of these were commercially successful.