Everything about Denis Papin totally explained
Denis Papin (
22 August 1647 - c. 1712) was a
French physicist,
mathematician and
inventor, best known for his pioneering
invention of the
steam digester, the forerunner of the
steam engine.
Life in France
Born in
Blois, (
Loir-et-Cher,
Centre Région), Papin attended a
Jesuit school there, and from
1661 attended University at
Angers, from which he graduated with a medical degree in
1669. In 1673, while working with
Christiaan Huygens and
Gottfried Leibniz in
Paris, he became interested in using a
vacuum to generate motive power.
First visit to London
Papin first visited
London in 1675, and worked with
Robert Boyle from
1676 to
1679, publishing an account of his work in
Continuation of New Experiments (1680). During this period, Papin invented the
steam digester, a type of
pressure cooker. He first addressed the Royal Society in 1679 on the subject of his digester, and remained mostly in London until about 1687, when he left to take up an academic post in Germany.
Germany
A
Huguenot, Papin was greatly affected by the increasing restrictions placed on Protestants by
Louis XIV of France and the King's ultimate revocation of the
Edict of Nantes in 1685. In Germany he was able to live with fellow Huguenot exiles from France.
While in Marburg in 1690, having observed the mechanical power of atmospheric pressure on his 'digester', he built a model of a piston
steam engine, the first of its kind.
He continued to work on steam engines for the next fifteen years.
In 1695 he moved from Marburg to Kassel. In 1705 he developed a second steam engine with the help of
Gottfried Leibniz, based on an invention by
Thomas Savery, but this used steam pressure rather than atmospheric pressure. Details of the engine were published in 1707.
During his stay in Kassel, Germany, in 1704, he also constructed a ship powered by his steam engine. The engine was mechanically linked to paddles. This would then make him the first to construct a steam boat.
Return to London
Papin returned to London in 1707, leaving his wife in Germany. Several of his papers were put before the Royal Society between 1707 and 1712 without acknowledging or paying him, about which he complained bitterly. Papin's ideas included a description of his 1690 atmospheric steam engine, similar to that built and put into use by
Thomas Newcomen in 1712, coincidentally thought to be the year of Papin's death. Although there's no evidence of foul play, political and religious intrigue plagued the science of the day, as well as personal rivalries. As a friend of Leibniz, Papin would have been at odds with
Isaac Newton, President of the Royal Society.
The last evidence of Papin's whereabouts was a letter he wrote dated January 23, 1712. At the time he was destitute, and it's believed he died that year and was buried in an unmarked pauper's pit.
References
Further Information
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