Harnessing the void

From: Mechanical Engineering | Date: December 1, 2003| Author: | Copyright information

HOW THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION BEGAN IN A VACUUM- OR, A PULL IS AS GOOD AS A PUSH.

It frequently happens that the individual getting the credit for an invention is not the real innovator, but rather the person who was most successful in reducing an idea to practice. Thus, we never hear about the designers of sailing ships who had made an extensive study of aerodynamics before the Wright brothers, or the number of engineers who had speculated on jet propulsion before Whittle.

This is true of steam power. The conventional wisdom is that James Watt invented the steam engine. The contribution of ...

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