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WATT'S STEAM ENGINE

James Watt improved the steam engine through rigorous experimentation and applying scientific principles

While repairing a Newcomen steam engine at the University of Glasgow in 1763, Scottish inventor and engineer James Watt noted its inefficient design. Valuable coal, steam and time were wasted by repeatedly heating, cooling, and re-heating the chamber. By introducing a separate condenser, Watt and his financier Matthew Boulton created a faster, more fuel-efficient engine which ushered in the Industrial Revolution. James Watt was emblematic of the new breed of inventor-entrepreneur. Relying less on inspiration and more on systematic and deliberate assessment and variation, he fine-tuned each element of the engine. This process revealed a poor understanding of the science of heat and motion. Careful study of the flows and transformations of heat and motion through the engine led to more abstract — yet decisive — theories of energy. On the practical side, mines could be drained, wool spun into cloth, and new modes of transportation such as the steam locomotive and steamboat soon followed. Today's modern descendants, steam turbines, generate about 90% of the United States electricity. And, modern engineering firms embody in large compass the collaboration of engineer Watt and entrepreneur and financier Boulton.