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This article is about the inventor and mechanical engineer. For the college, see James Watt College. For the award, see James Watt International Medal. For other people with similar names, see James Watt (disambiguation).

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James Watt FRS FRSE
Portrait by Carl Frederik von Breda, 1792
Born	(1736-01-19)19 January 1736 Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland
Died	25 August 1819(1819-08-25) (aged 83)^[a] Handsworth, Birmingham, England
Resting place	St. Mary's Church, Handsworth
Known for	Watt steam engine Watt's linkage Watt's curve Separate condenser Centrifugal governor Horsepower Indicator diagram Letter copying press Sun and planet gear
Spouse(s)	Margaret Miller (m. 1764\u20131773 her death) \n Anne McGrigor (m. 1776)
Children	4
Scientific career
Fields	Mechanical engineering
Institutions	University of Glasgow Boulton and Watt
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Signature

James Watt FRS FRSE (/w\u0252t/; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) \u2013 25 August 1819)^[a] was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world. \n

While working as an instrument maker at the University of Glasgow, Watt became interested in the technology of steam engines. At the time engineers such as John Smeaton were aware of the inefficiencies of Newcomen's engine and aimed to improve it.^[1] Watt's insight was to realise that contemporary engine designs wasted a great deal of energy by repeatedly cooling and reheating the cylinder. Watt introduced a design enhancement, the separate condenser, which avoided this waste of energy and radically improved the power, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of steam engines. Eventually, he adapted his engine to produce rotary motion, greatly broadening its use beyond pumping water.\n

Watt attempted to commercialise his invention, but experienced great financial difficulties until he entered a partnership with Matthew Boulton in 1775. The new firm of Boulton and Watt was eventually highly successful and Watt became a wealthy man. In his retirement, Watt continued to develop new inventions though none was as significant as his steam engine work.\n

As Watt developed the concept of horsepower,^[2] the SI unit of power, the watt, was named after him.\n

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v t e Scientists whose names are used as units
SI base units	\n Andr\u00e9-Marie Amp\u00e8re (ampere) \n Lord Kelvin (kelvin) \n
SI derived units	\n Henri Becquerel (becquerel) \n Anders Celsius (degree Celsius) \n Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (coulomb) \n Michael Faraday (farad) \n Louis Harold Gray (gray) \n Joseph Henry (henry) \n Heinrich Hertz (hertz) \n James Prescott Joule (joule) \n Isaac Newton (newton) \n Georg Ohm (ohm) \n Blaise Pascal (pascal) \n Werner von Siemens (siemens) \n Rolf Maximilian Sievert (sievert) \n Nikola Tesla (tesla) \n Alessandro Volta (volt) \n James Watt (watt) \n Wilhelm Eduard Weber (weber) \n
Non-SI metric (cgs) units	\n Anders Jonas \u00c5ngstr\u00f6m (angstrom) \n Peter Debye (debye) \n Lor\u00e1nd E\u00f6tv\u00f6s (eotvos) \n Galileo Galilei (gal) \n Carl Friedrich Gauss (gauss) \n William Gilbert (gilbert) \n Heinrich Kayser (kayser) \n Johann Heinrich Lambert (lambert) \n Samuel Langley (langley) \n James Clerk Maxwell (maxwell) \n Hans Christian \u00d8rsted (oersted) \n Jean L\u00e9onard Marie Poiseuille (poise) \n Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet (stokes) \n John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (rayl) \n
Imperial and US customary units	\n Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (degree Fahrenheit) \n Johann Heinrich Lambert (foot-lambert) \n William John Macquorn Rankine (degree Rankine) \n
Non-systematic units	\n Alexander Graham Bell (bel/decibel) \n Marie Curie & Pierre Curie (curie) \n John Dalton (dalton) \n Michael Faraday (faraday) \n Heinrich Mache (mache) \n John Napier (neper) \n Ren\u00e9 Antoine Ferchault de R\u00e9aumur (degree R\u00e9aumur) \n Wilhelm R\u00f6ntgen (roentgen) \n J. J. Thomson (thomson) \n Evangelista Torricelli (torr) \n
List of scientists whose names are used as units \u00b7 Scientists whose names are used in physical constants \u00b7 People whose names are used in chemical element names

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Biography

Early life and education

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Watt and the kettle

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First engines

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Copying machine

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Soho Foundry

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