Denis Papin
FRS (; 22 August 1647 – 26 August 1713) was a French
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
, mathematician and inventor, best known for his pioneering
invention
An invention is a unique or novelty (patent), novel machine, device, Method_(patent), method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It m ...
of the
steam digester, the forerunner of the
pressure cooker, the
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...
,
the
centrifugal pump,
submersible
A submersible is an underwater vehicle which needs to be transported and supported by a larger ship, watercraft or dock, platform. This distinguishes submersibles from submarines, which are self-supporting and capable of prolonged independent ope ...
and possibly the
paddlesteamer (1707).
Early life and education
Born in
Chitenay (
Loir-et-Cher
Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region of France. It is named after two rivers which run through it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher (river), Cher in its southern p ...
,
Centre-Val de Loire
Centre-Val de Loire (; ,In isolation, ''Centre'' is pronounced . ) or Centre Region (, ), as it was known until 2015, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France. It straddles the middle Loire Valley in the interior ...
Région), Papin attended a
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
school there. In 1661, he attended the
University of Angers, from which he graduated with a medical degree in 1669.
Career
In 1673, Papin worked with
Christiaan Huygens
Christiaan Huygens, Halen, Lord of Zeelhem, ( , ; ; also spelled Huyghens; ; 14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor who is regarded as a key figure in the Scientific Revolution ...
and
Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Isaac Newton, Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in ad ...
in Paris, and became interested in using a
vacuum to generate motive power.
In 1675, he first visited London, where he 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 with a
safety valve. He first addressed the Royal Society in 1679 on the subject of his digester, and remained mostly in London. As a
Huguenot, Papin found himself greatly affected by the increasing restrictions placed on Protestants by
Louis XIV of France
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
and by the King's ultimate revocation of the
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes () was an edict signed in April 1598 by Henry IV of France, King Henry IV and granted the minority Calvinism, Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was predominantl ...
in 1685.
In Germany, he was able to live with fellow Huguenot exiles from France, so in about 1687, he left to take up an academic post in Germany.
In 1689, Papin suggested that a force pump or bellows could maintain the pressure and fresh air inside a
diving bell
A diving bell is a rigid chamber used to transport divers from the surface to depth and back in open water, usually for the purpose of performing underwater work. The most common types are the open-bottomed wet bell and the closed bell, which c ...
. (Engineer
John Smeaton
John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent scholar, who introduced various ...
utilised this design in 1789.
)
While in
Marburg in 1690, having observed the mechanical power of atmospheric pressure on his 'digester', Papin built a model of a piston
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...
, the first of its kind. In 1705 while teaching mathematics at the
University of Marburg,
[.] he developed a second steam engine with the help of
Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Isaac Newton, Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in ad ...
, based on an invention by
Thomas Savery, but this used steam pressure rather than atmospheric pressure. Details of the engine were published in 1707.
In 1705, Papin constructed a ship powered by hand-cranked paddles. An apocryphal story originating in 1851 by
Louis Figuire held that this ship was steam-powered rather than hand-powered and that it was therefore the first steam-powered vehicle of any kind. The myth was refuted as early as 1880 by , though still it finds credulous expression in some contemporary scholarly work.
Papin's ship was said to have been destroyed in 1707 by the boatmen of
Munden who feared it would threaten their livelihood. The scene of boatmen destroying Papin's ship is depicted in several pieces of art in the eighteenth century and serves as an example of the resistance and fear inspired by the creative destruction that accompanies new technology.
Later, at the iron foundry in Veckerhagen (now
Reinhardshagen), he cast the world's first steam cylinder.
In 1707, Papin returned to London 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, thought to be the year of Papin's death.
Death
The last surviving evidence of Papin's whereabouts came in a letter he wrote dated 23 January 1712. At the time he was destitute ("I am in a sad case")
oyal Society Archives, 1894, Vol. 7, 74 and it was believed that he died that year and was buried in an unmarked grave in London.
However, a record exists for the burial of a “Denys Papin” in an 18th-century Register of Marriages & Burials
[London Metropolitan Archives; Collection: Saint Bride; Title: Register of Marriages Burrials &tc from 1695 to Aug 1714; catalogue reference: P69/BRI/A/005/MS06540/003. (seen June 2016)] which originally came from
St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, London, but which is stored in the
London Metropolitan Archives. The record states that Denys Papin was buried at St Bride's on 26 August 1713 – just a few days after his 66th birthday – and that he was buried in the Lower Ground, one of the two burial areas belonging to the church at the time. Since the discovery, in 2016, of the place and date of Papin's burial in 1713, a memorial plaque has been erected in the West Entrance of St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, London, to commemorate his life and his achievements.
Legacy
Boulevard Denis Papin in
Carcassonne
Carcassonne is a French defensive wall, fortified city in the Departments of France, department of Aude, Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the department.
...
is named after him as well as a street in
Saint-Michel, Montreal. There is also a statue of Papin with his invention in
Blois, at the top of the Escalier Denis Papin, a stairway.
Works
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References
Sources
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Papin, Denis
1647 births
1710s deaths
17th-century French inventors
Fellows of the Royal Society
French Protestants
Huguenots
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
People from Loir-et-Cher
Year of death unknown