Denis Papin
At a glance:
- Series: Dictionary of World Biography: The 17th and 18th Centuries
- Categories: Technology, Inventions
- Subcategories: Mathematics, Mathematicians, Scientists, Inventors, Physics, Physicists, Industry, Manufacturing, Factories
- Curriculum: British History, French History, 17th Century European History
Article abstract: Papin was one of the first to realize the potential of steam for the production of power in a piston engine.
Early Life
Denis Papin was born in 1647, in a farmhouse a few miles from Blois, France, into a Huguenot family. In 1661 or 1662, he enrolled at the University of Angers to study medicine, a profession already practiced by several members of his family. He was graduated with a medical degree in 1669. Papin also possessed a strong interest in mechanics and natural philosophy, however, and by 1671 he was in Paris, working for...
[The entire page is 2075 words long]
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