James WATT (January 19; 1736 - August 25; 1819) Scottish engineer and inventor. To him we owe the development of the Newcomen machine for a more effective application in the work; through multiple improvements and patents; the development of the steam engine with such an increase in power and decrease in costs as to create the conditions for the realization of the industrial revolution. Lithograph from a painting by Sir Henry William Beechey (1753 - 1839); 19th century