James Watt was born on January 17, 1736 in Greenock, Scotland. Early in his life, he enjoyed learning mathematics in high school. Being a very fragile child, his mother homeschooled him in his early years. His father was a successful owner of a ship and house building company. One of the most important areas of his education was in his father's workshop, where he learned to build models and become familiar with ships' instruments. James decided at the age of 17 that he wanted to become a mathematical instrument maker. With this decision, James traveled to Glasgow where one of his mother's relatives worked. Then in 1755, he left for London, where he began an internship. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay During this apprenticeship, James became very ill but continued to learn. He worked hard enough to work as well as most of the journeymen. When Watt returned to Glasgow he opened a shop in 1757 at the university and made mathematical instruments. Seven years later, Watt married him and she had six of his children before dying 9 years later. Watts was intrigued by the amount of steam wasted while repairing a Newcomen model steam engine in 1764. After a full year of problem solving and complications, in May 1765, Watt found the solution and his greatest invention : the separate condenser. He realized that the loss of latent heat was the most horrible defect of the Newcomen engine and that therefore the condensation had to be carried out in a chamber separate from the cylinder but not connected to it. Shortly after this discovery, he met John Roebuck who would soon become his partner. They formed a partnership in 1768 after Watt received some assistance in the form of loans from Joseph Black. The following year, Watt filed the famous patent for "A New Method Invented for Reducing the Consumption of Steam and Fuel in Fire Engines." After this, Watt became a land surveyor in 1766. For the next 8 years he was continually busy plotting canal routes in Scotland. This work prevented him from making progress on the steam engine. After Roebuck's bankruptcy in 1772, Watts grew bored with surveying and Scotland. He therefore immigrated to Birmingham where he began a friendly relationship with Matthew Boulton, an English manufacturer and engineer in 1774. After Watt's patent was extended by an Act of Parliament, he and Boulton began a partnership in 1775 which lasted 25 years. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Personalized Essay The Watt engine was a defining development of the industrial revolution due to its rapid incorporation into many industries. Because of Watt's contributions to science and industry, the watt, the unit of power in International System units equal to one joule of work done per second, is named after him. While many scientists argue that the conception of parallel motion in 1784 should serve as a starting point for the Anthropocene epoch, the unofficial interval changes Earth's surface, atmosphere, and oceans, some still doubt. Overall, James Watt is considered one of the most influential instrument makers in the field of instrument making and science. Works Cited: American Psychological Association. (2021). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: experiments by nature and design. Harvard.