Matthew Boulton (1728–1809) was an English manufacturer and the partner of engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills. He became associated with James Watt when Watt's business partner, John Roebuck, was unable to pay a debt to Boulton, who accepted Roebuck's share of Watt's patent as settlement. He then successfully lobbied Parliament to extend Watt's patent for an additional seventeen years, enabling the firm to market Watt's steam engine. Boulton applied modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with up-to-date equipment. Boulton was a key member of the Lunar Society, a group of Birmingham-area men prominent in the arts, sciences, and theology. Members included Boulton, Watt, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood, and Joseph Priestley. Members of the Society have been given credit for developing concepts and techniques in science, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transportation that laid the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution and for later discoveries, including the theory of evolution.
Read the rest of this article: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Boulton> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 986: Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars: The Bulgarians defeated the Byzantine forces at the Gate of Trajan near present-day Ihtiman, with Byzantine Emperor Basil II barely escaping. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Gates_of_Trajan> 1862: A council of Dakota decided to attack settlements throughout the Minnesota River valley in an effort to drive whites out of the area, sparking the Dakota War of 1862. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_War_of_1862> 1914: World War I: Ignoring orders to retreat, Hermann von François led a successful counterattack defending East Prussia at the Battle of Stallupönen and scored the first German victory in the Eastern Front. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stallup%C3%B6nen> 1959: Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, one of the best selling and most acclaimed jazz recordings of all time, was released. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue> 1999: A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck northwestern Turkey, killing over 17,000 people and leaving approximately half a million people homeless. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_%C4%B0zmit_earthquake> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: quid pro quo (n): 1. (law) This for that; giving something to receive something else. 2. An equal exchange. 3. Something equivalent <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quid_pro_quo> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: Everything of value about me is in my books. Whatever extra there is in me at any given moment isn't fully formed. I am hardly aware of it; it awaits the next book. It will — with luck — come to me during the actual writing, and it will take me by surprise. That element of surprise is what I look for when I am writing. --V. S. Naipaul <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V._S._Naipaul> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
