Caus, Salomon de

Caus or Caux, Salomon de

(both: sälōmôN` də kō) 1576–1626, French engineer and physicist, educated in England. From 1614 to 1620 he was engineer to the Elector Palatine, Frederick, at Heidelberg. Because of his Les Raisons des forces mouvantes avec diverses machines (1615), an early exposition of the principle of steam power, he has been considered the originator of the steam engine.