Denis Papin

Born Aug. 22, 1647, in Chitenay, near Blois; died 1714 (according to some data, 1712) in London. French physicist. Member of the Royal Society of London (1680).

From 1661 to 1674, Papin studied and practiced medicine in Angers. In Paris in 1673 and 1674 he assisted C. Huygens with the latter’s air-pump experiments. At the same time, he began investigating the relationship between the boiling point of water and pressure. In 1675, Papin moved to London, where he worked as an assistant to R. Boyle. He later lived in Venice, returning in 1684 to London, where he became the temporary curator of experiments for the Royal Society. In 1688 he was made professor of mathematics at the University of Marburg.

In 1680, Papin reported the invention of a pressure-cookerlike device with a safety valve (“Papin’s digester”). Between 1684 and 1687 he conducted many experiments in hydraulics and invented several machines for lifting water. Papin proposed a design for a centrifugal pump in 1689. He described a closed thermodynamic cycle for a steam engine in 1690 but was unable to build a working engine. In 1696 he designed a furnace for melting glass, a steam vehicle, and a steam cannon. As a physicist, Papin understood and appreciated the energy characteristics of steam, but as an engineer he was unable to construct an engine based on these characteristics.