(1736-1819)
He was born on January 19, 1736, in Greenock, near Glasgow, Scotland. He was a builder of scientific instruments and engineer, having developed the modern steam engine.
He had little formal education because of his poor health. She was educated at home, with her mother and then attended the local school to learn Greek, Latin and mathematics. He loved spending his time in his father's workshop, building models, and interested in navigational instruments.
During the repair process of a steam engine model of Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729), Watt realized that its efficiency could be greatly increased if a separate steam condenser were installed, avoiding the verified losses of energy by means of the cooling from the cylinder to the condensation of the steam. In 1769 Watt gets the patent of his machine.
In 1776 the first two steam engines designed by Watt are installed in a mine and in a steel mill.
He wrote in 1783 an article for the Royal Society of London, suggesting that water was a combination of two gases. The idea would later be confirmed by Lavoisier.
In 1790 Watt completes the improvements of his steam engine, which came to receive its name, and that became fundamental for the success of the industrial revolution. Very soon his machine began to be used for the pumping of water from mines and for the drive of machines in flour mills, spinning mills and weaving and papermaking.
James Watt retired, as a very wealthy man, in 1800. In 1814 Watt became a foreign member of the French Academy of Sciences. James Watt died on August 25, 1819.
The power unit of the International System was named WATT.
