Three Important People

James Watt

James Watt was born in 1736 in Scotland. He had an apprenticeship in England until he returned to Scotland in 1756 and became employed by the University of Glasgow. He worked to improve the efficiency of the steam engines that had been developed by Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen after being called on to repair a model of Newcomen's engine. 


He noticed that the alternate heating and cooling of its cylinder was very inefficient and could be improved by keeping the cylinder as hot as the steam entering it. His innovation was adding a separate vessel where the steam could condense so that one part could remain hot and the other cold. 


He began selling the machine in 1774 with Matthew Boulton, a venture capitalist. The engine was used in coal mining, textile manufacturing and transportation. Watt made a significant contribution to the Industrial Revolution that unlocked a new source of energy that could vastly increase production and speed up transportation.

Fritz Harkort


Harkort was born in 1793. He worked on his father's estate, on which there was tobacco mills, distilleries and hammer mills to produce steel. He served in England as a Prussian Army officer during the Napoleonic Wars.  He observed the achievements that the British were making and wanted Germany to match them. He decided to produce steam engines and set up a factory in an abandoned castle in the Ruhr Valley. 


Without any skilled workers, he was forced to hire expensive ones from England. He also had to import the large boilers he needed. He managed to build and sell his engines, and was highly regarded, even being called the "Watt of Germany." Unfortunately, the enterprise was a financial failure, and he was forced out of his company. After that, he became dedicated to the construction of railroads and steam ships. He died in 1880. His life was significant for showing the great efforts that some business leaders undertook to try and spread the benefits of the Industrial Revolution. It also shows the great difficulty of the task.

Harkort's Factory

A badly translated German poem says this about him:




Well was a real man always popular, 
As a fighter proved good; 
Fritz Harkort with the silver hair
Be praised loudly today.
What he did for the German people,
Will still report to posterity.
The laurel wreath to the veteran,
The old war hero! 


I still think the Google Translate feature is pretty cool.


Thomas Malthus

Thomas Malthus was born in 1766 in Surrey, England and was educated at home. His father was a friend of the philosopher David Hume. He graduated from Jesus College in 1788 and earned his master's degree in 1791.


He wrote a panphlet entitled An Essay on the Principle of Population as it Affects the Future Improvement of Society, with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and Other Writers. He argued in it that whereas food production increases linearly, human population can increase exponentially. Therefore, he believed an unchecked population growth would always lead to starvation. Population would eventually be checked by disease, war, disaster and famine. He therefore argued that the birth rate needed to be kept low by having people marry later and abstaining from procreation.


Malthus's ideas were significant for showing the sort of pessimistic views people held in this time of economic and social upheaval. He also was important for creating academic interest in the study of population and demographics.