James Watt

Watt built an engine powered by steam that could pump water from mines three times as quickly as previous inventions thereby allowing for more coal to be extracted

Richard Trevithick

pioneered the first steam-powered locomotive on an industrial rail line in southern Wales. It pulled 10 tons of ore and seventy people at 5 miles per hour. Better locomotives soon followed. Engines built by George Stephenson and his son proved superior, and it was Stephenson's Rocket that was used on the first public railway line, which opened in 1830, stretching 32 miles from Liverpool to Manchester. Rocket sped along at 16 miles per hour. Within twenty years, locomotives had reached 50 miles per hour, an incredible speed to contemporary travelers.

Thomas Edison

Invented the light bulb

The light bulb permitted homes and cities to be illuminated by electric lights. By the 1880s, electricity-powered streetcars and subways had appeared in major European cities. Electricity also transformed the factory. Conveyor belts, cranes, machines, and machine tools could all be powered by electricity and located anywhere.

Guglielmo Marconi

Sent the first radio waves across the Atlantic

Henry Ford

Revolutionized the automotive industry with the mass production of the Model T