James Watt

James Watt is a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer, born in Greenock, Scotland in 1736, who is best known for his improvements to steam engine technology during the Industrial Revolution. He developed the separate condenser in 1765 and the parallel motion mechanism in 1784, making steam engines significantly more efficient than earlier Newcomen designs. He partnered with manufacturer Matthew Boulton to form Boulton & Watt, which became a major engineering firm producing steam engines for mines, mills, and other industries. He is also credited with developing the concept of horsepower as a unit of power measurement, and the watt, a unit of electrical and mechanical power, is named in his honor.