So it was for James Watt, whose Watt engine is often considered one of the cornerstones of the Industrial Revolution. This is why the watt is what we call the unit of power equal to one joule of ...

James Watt: The power of steam. Up next. Hugh Masekela: The iconic South African musician. ... In this 200th year since his death, we look at the life and work of James Watt, ...

He also developed the concept of horsepower, a unit of measurement used to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses. In 1889, ‘Watt’, the unit to measure power incorporated ...

James Watt figured out a way to calculate horsepower. It was essentially the amount of work done by a horse in a said amount of time, and compared it to the steam engines at the time.

At the time, people were regularly asking Watt how many horses his steam engine could replace, so he devised horsepower as a ...