James Watt, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

James Watt

British engineer

Date of Birth: 19-Jan-1736

Place of Birth: Greenock, Scotland, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 25-Aug-1819

Profession: engineer, entrepreneur, physicist, inventor, chemist

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world. While working as an instrument maker at the University of Glasgow, Watt became interested in the technology of steam engines.
He realised that contemporary engine designs wasted a great deal of energy by repeatedly cooling and reheating the cylinder.
Watt introduced a design enhancement, the separate condenser, which avoided this waste of energy and radically improved the power, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of steam engines.
Eventually he adapted his engine to produce rotary motion, greatly broadening its use beyond pumping water. Watt attempted to commercialise his invention, but experienced great financial difficulties until he entered a partnership with Matthew Boulton in 1775.
The new firm of Boulton and Watt was eventually highly successful and Watt became a wealthy man.
In his retirement, Watt continued to develop new inventions though none was as significant as his steam engine work. He developed the concept of horsepower, and the SI unit of power, the watt, was named after him.



Description	British portrait painter and history painter
Date of birth/death	31 January 1769	5 October 1847
Location of birth/death	London	Oxford
Work location	London; Vienna (1794); Dresden (1794); Rome (1791–1794)
Authority control	: Q352364 VIAF: 12297000 ISNI: 0000 0000 7326 4534 ULAN: 500032645 LCCN: n86021532 Open Library: OL5046743A WorldCat