Who made the steam engine?

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. In simple terms, the steam engine uses the expansion principle of chemistry, where heat applied to water transforms the water to steam. and then pushes a piston (cylinder). read more

Papin's ideas surrounding a cylinder and piston steam engine had not previously been used to build a working engine, but by 1705, Savery had turned Papin's ideas into a useful invention. Using two steam boilers, Savery devised a nearly continuous system for pumping water from mines. read more

From that point, the commercial steam engine was then made possible by the efforts of three important figures. Thomas Savery (1650-1715) Thomas Savery was an English military engineer and inventor. read more

By the 1800s, steam engines were powering mills, factories, breweries and a host of other manufacturing operations. In 1852, the first flight of a steam-powered airship took place. Future iterations of the steam engine also came to define travel, as trains, boats and railways adopted the technology to propel passengers into the 20th century. read more