James Watt and Steam Power

Discovery

BBC

Science, Technology

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 July 2015

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Naomi Alderman tells the story of James Watt and the steam engine that nearly never got made. A breath of steam hits cold metal. It cools suddenly and becomes a drop of water. There an idea. But the designs for Watt’s radically more efficient steam engine laid on the shelf in his workshop for years. Watt, a depressive, cautious perfectionist had no interest in actually making engines. Had it not been for his friend, the businessmen Matthew Boulton driving him on, his engine might never have left the drawing board. Naomi talks to historian, Jenny Uglow about the five friends who kick started the industrial revolution. And, digital guru Bill Thompson talks about the scientific legacy of Watt’s obsession with getting a patent - an obsession which led to an Act of Parliament.

Photo: James Watt. Credit: Hulton Archive)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you're listening to Discovery on the
0:02.0	BBC. The details of our complete range of podcasts and our terms of use
0:07.0	go to BBCworldservice.com slash podcasts.
0:10.0	You're listening to Discovery on broadcasts.
0:16.0	You're listening to Discovery on the BBC. I'm Naomi Alderman, and today's science story is a bit of a mystery.
0:20.0	How can something be both hot and cold? A breath of steam hits cold metal. It cools suddenly and becomes a drop of water.
0:35.0	There. An idea.
0:38.0	In fact, the idea.
0:41.0	The stroke of genius that powered the Industrial Revolution.
0:50.0	This is the story of James Watt and Steam Power.
0:54.6	I thought I knew how Steam Power was invented.
0:57.2	Who done it? It was James Watt in the kitchen with the moving kettle.
1:02.3	He invented steam power, the engines he designed changed the world. There.
1:05.9	solved. Except I was wrong. On the Industrial Revolution there was James Watt, like a great detective, diligent,
1:20.7	depressive and detail focused.
1:25.0	There was a mystery.
1:26.4	How could you make something hot and cold at the same time?
1:31.7	And excitingly, like the best kind of crime novel, this story
1:36.1	involves a sealed chamber, a high-pressure situation, and a seemingly impossible
1:42.2	trick.
1:43.0	James Watt was a son of a shipwright and carpenter in Greenock, Scotland,
1:51.0	born in 1736 and raised among the tools of his father's trade.
	...

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