The Ablest Man in the World

'''Mitchell, Edward Page. "The Ablest Man in the World."' New York Sun 4 May 1879 (plublished unattributed). ¶¶ Wikipedia entry summarizes key issue: "Baron Savitch grew up in a mental asylum and was mute and retarded. Rapperschwyll found him there one day and, with his skill in medicine and watchmaking, made a clockwork brain for Savitch which is explicitly superior to Charles Babbage's difference engine. With this mechanical brain, Baron Savitch cannot make a mistake and with time will rise to become the next Napoleon." In an unpublished ms., John J. Pierce describes the "clockwork brain" as a kind of "mini-computer."

See the US TV series Intelligence, episode of 31 March 2014 for naming after Baron Savitch of main character, who has a microchip brain implant.

RDE, with thanks to John J. Pierce, 31March18