DrC/TCU 4/23/2004
James Watt (1736-1819)
Year
Event
Commentary
1736 James is born on January 19th, in
There are numerous aspects of James' early
Greenock (near Glasgow); father is
life worth noting, including the following:
James Watt, a carpenter and shipwright, 1. First, he is a sickly child, a common trait of
and treasurer and magistrate of
creative geniuses (see Ochse, ch. 4) —
Greenock; mother is Agnes Muirhead; a
presumably this makes a life of isolation
delicate child, James is taught until age
and intellectual achievement more likely.
eleven or so by his mother; he does not
shine as student until grammar school,
2. Second, we see the common pattern of
when under competent tutelage he
indifference or mediocrity when it comes to
excels at mathematics; he is not
formal education; James had most of his
precocious, except in drawing; perhaps
education at home, did not even complete
his most important experiences are in
grammar school, and learned many of his
his fathers shop, where the younger
most important lessons in his father shop,
James is set up with his own equipment
where he made models (e.g., of cranes
and proves quite capable — the
and barrel organs); nevertheless, his
workmen saying that "Jamie has a
parents are a high-achieving, middle-class
fortune in his fingers' ends".
couple (see Ochse, ch. 4, and Simonton,
ch. 4).
3. Third, James early on shows a natural
talent for his areas of later achievement,
demonstrating exceptional talent in the
areas of logical-mathematical, spatial, and
mechanical ability (see Ochse, ch. 8).
1753 His mother dies, when Jamie is 17;
Once again we see the familiar pattern where
James decides to become a
parental bereavement is associated with
mathematical instrument maker, and
creative genius, although in this case involving
leaves for Glasgow, where he obtains an a mother instead of a father (see Ochse, ch. 4,
apprenticeship, but knows more than the and Simonton, ch. 4).
man he works for.
1755 James leaves for London, where after
James' professional life was affected directly
some difficulty he is finally apprenticed
by two gulfs between professions:
to an instrument maker; he lasted only
1. The first of these was between science
one year before his health began to fail
(chemistry) and practice (engineering) —
him, due to his long hours and fragile
much of Watt's success derived from the
constitution; nevertheless, James
fact that he was able to bridge this gap,
learned "more in one year than most
applying scientific principles (many of
journeymen in four".
which were learned from his friend Joseph
Black) to engineering problems;
2. The second of these was between
instrument making, which a highly refined
craft, and iron working, which was very
crude — the crudeness of the latter was a
major obstacle to Watt implementing his
ideas, represented in instrument-like
models, for practical use, which required
the use of iron.
1757 Returning to Glasgow, he soon earned,

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DrC/TCU 4/23/2004
through his friends, a position as
"Mathematical Instrument Maker to the
University".
1759 Because the university work was not

enough to sustain him, he — in
partnership with James Craig — opened
a shop in Saltmarket to make all sorts of
instruments, including toys.
1764 A momentous year in James' life: He
It is often thought that Watt invented the steam
marries his cousin Margaret Miller, who, engine, this is not true: Thomas Newcomen
before she dies nine year later, bears
had built at Staffordshire, England, a working
him six children; and in one of those
steam engine in 1712 — Watt's genius was to
serendipitous twists of human affairs,
make a steam engine of sufficient power,
the university acquires a non-working
efficiency, and flexibility that it could drive the
model of a Newcomen engine, and Watt industrial revolution.
is asked to repair it.
1765 Watt immediately sees the limitations of Two things are noteworthy about this
the Newcomen engine, and in May of
remarkable event:
1765 comes up with his first and
1. First, James Watt may have been the first
greatest invention, the idea of a
person to apply a scientific principle
separate condenser.
(Joseph Black's concept of latent heat) to

an engineering problem; this fact is
remarkable, from a creativity standpoint,
for at least two reasons: (a) it shows the
importance of shared knowledge and
communication to creative genius (see
Ochse, ch. 3, and Simonton, ch. 6), and (b)
it illustrates a common aspect of scientific
creativity, namely that creative insights are
often sparked by cross-disciplinary
fertilization.
2. Second, Watt's own description of this
event clearly illustrates the role of
incubation in problem solving and creative
insight, in other words, the so-called "bed-
bus-bath syndrome" (see Ochse, ch. 9 and

Simonton, ch. 2).
1766– Watt works as a land surveyor on
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Britain's new canals; he is only able to
work sporadically on his steam engine
designs.
1768 James enters into a partnership with
John Roebuck to make a prototype of
Watt's improved steam engine.
1769 Watt takes out his famous patent for "A
New Invented Method of Lessening the
Consumption of Steam and Fuel in Fire
Engines".

1772 Roebuck goes bankrupt, freeing Watt
from their earlier agreement.
1775 Watt forms a partnership with Matthew
Also about this time begins the monthly
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DrC/TCU 4/23/2004
Boulton, a partnership which will last 25 meetings of the Lunar Society, an extremely
years; they are the ideal pair — Watt,
influential, yet informal, group of industrialists
the technically-gifted hypochondriac and and scientists, which included among its dozen
genius, and Boulton, the wealthy,
or so members not only Watt and Boulton, but
insightful, and opportunistic industrialist. Joseph Priestley, Erasmus Darwin, William
Small, and Benjamin Franklin as a
corresponding member.
1776 Watt and Boulton build their first two
James Watt
engines at Boulton's Soho Iron Works in
Cornwall; Watt remarries, his second
wife, Ann MacGregor, bears him two
children.
1781 At Boulton's urging, Watt invents a rotary
motion device for his steam engine,
called a sun-and-planet gear, that
adapts their steam engine for use in
corn, malt, and cotton mills.
1782 Watt's father dies; James, at the height
of his inventive powers, patents the
double-acting engine, in which the piston
pushes as well as pulls.
1784 Watt improves the steam engine by
inventing a parallel motion device for
connecting the piston to the beam.
1785 Watt and Boulton are elected members
of the Royal Society of London
(members of the Lunar Society
revitalized the Royal Society, which had
become a social rather than a literary

club).
1788 Watt invents, at Boulton's suggestion,

the centrifugal governor for automatic
control of the engine's speed.
1790 Watt invents a pressure gauge to
By this time Watt is a wealthy man, based on
monitor and regulate the internal steam royalties from his patents.
pressure of the engine; this last
modification takes the Watt engine about
as far as it can go.
1794– Watt purchases a country estate at

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Doldowlod, Radnorshire, and begins to
retire from business; Watt and Boulton
establish the new firm of Boulton & Watt,
which they turn over to their sons,
James and Matthew.
1806 James is made a doctor of laws of the

University of Glasgow (and made a
foreign associate of the French
Academy of Sciences in 1816).
1819 James dies, at Heathfield Hall, near

Birmingham.

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