360The 1710s: Newcomen's engine and the longitude prize
Thomas Newcomen built the first practical steam engine in 1712 to pump water from mines. Daniel Fahrenheit made reliable mercury thermometers. Britain offered a huge prize for measuring longitude at sea, and France's King Louis XIV died in 1715 after a 72-year reign.
In 1712, near Dudley in England, Thomas Newcomen installed an engine that used steam and air pressure to drive a pumping beam. It was the first practical steam engine, and hundreds were built across Britain and Europe to drain mines over the following decades.
Measurement improved. The German-born scientist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, working in the Netherlands, developed accurate mercury thermometers around 1714, and later the temperature scale that carries his name.
At sea, sailors could find their latitude from the Sun but struggled to work out longitude, and many ships were lost. In 1714, the British Parliament passed the Longitude Act, offering up to £20,000, a fortune at the time, for a practical solution. The prize would inspire the clockmaker John Harrison.
In 1715, Louis XIV of France died after reigning for 72 years, the longest reign of any European monarch. His five-year-old great-grandson became Louis XV.
Literature reached new readers. Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719, is often called one of the first English novels.
- 1712
- Newcomen's first steam engine
- c. 1714
- Fahrenheit's mercury thermometer
- 1714
- Longitude Act passed
- 1715
- Death of Louis XIV
- 1719
- Robinson Crusoe published
Sources: Britannica · Science Museum · Royal Museums Greenwich.