Boyden, Uriah

Boyden, Uriah (Atherton)

(1804–79) engineer, inventor; born in Foxboro, Mass. He helped survey early railroad routes in New England and participated in the construction of several textile mills in Lowell, Mass. In 1844 he designed an improved turbine waterwheel to power industrial machinery. In his late years he occupied himself with problems in pure physics, particularly heat and the velocity of light.