This historical analysis of the events that led to the steam engine tells a fascinating story about people and their inventions. A case study as basis for a multidisciplinary PhD dissertation about innovation, it describes the work of many engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs, from Thomas Savery's 1698 water pump, known as
The Miner's Friend
, to Richard Trevithick's
Puffing Devil
and
Catch Me Who Can
high-pressure steam locomotives, which came a century later.
Author and lifelong student of innovation B. J. G. van der Kooij places the inventions in the context of their time and place-eighteenth-century Europe-with its wars and revolutions, as well as its "gentlemen of science" and the engineers who explored the power of heat and fire. He focuses on the people who, with their small and large contributions, their successes and failures, their greed and naivety, built the foundations of the world we live in today. He also examines the larger social effects, both positive and negative, that come with changing technologies.
With
The Invention of the Steam Engine
, you'll get an intriguing inside look at the mechanisms behind the Industrial Revolution, and gain valuable insight into how the phenomenon of technological innovation shapes societies moving forward.