Thursday 22nd August 1647

Born on this day, Denis Papin, inventor of the piston steam engine, was born in Blois, France. This British physicist, who also invented the pressure cooker, got the first seedlings of an idea when he noticed the enclosed steam in the cooker raising the lid. Why couldn’t one use steam to drive a piston? Though he never actually constructed an engine, nor had a practical design, his sketches were improved on by others and led to the development of the steam engine.