It is said that James Watt developed his
idea for the steam engine by watching a boiling kettle in his mother's kitchen
and seeing how the steam pushed things out! He first became interested in machines, working as an ordinary
mechanic at Glasgow
University, which had
been founded centuries before in 1451. His interest in the steam engine turned it into one of the
most powerful and important machines in the Industrial Revolution.
Throughout his
life, he could not stop inventing all kinds of machines, some of which were
still being used earlier this century.