Papin, Denis - an unfortunate genius

It is often written about him that he was born too early - during the religious wars of the Reformation he was not to court. He appeared at least one hundred years later - his talents and energy would have brought more benefits for the heyday of the industrial revolution.

But would she come without such people as Papen? Denis is a man who, at the end of the seventeenth century, made many more to accelerate technical progress.

Physician who became a physicist

His homeland was a small town of Shiten, located near Blois - the center of the Loir-et-Cher region. His father is the royal adviser Denis Papen (Deni received his name). The date of birth of the future scientist is not exactly known, and that which is indicated in biographies - August 22, 1647 - the date of baptism. According to religious beliefs, the Papen family belonged to the Huguenots, the French branch of Protestantism.

Became known as the famous French physicist, Denis Papen received a non-core education. In the mother's family, Madeleine Pino, all men traditionally became physicians, and for her eldest son she expected to receive medical education. After the end of the Jesuit school in 1661, he begins studying the medical case at the University of Angers.

Teachers and classmates Denis soon noticed that medicine carries him much less than mathematics and physics. They could see the apparent enthusiasm for physical experiments, which Papen showed. Denis was experiencing certain difficulties when graduating from the university, and when issuing a certificate of completion of the course he was clearly condescending. And yet he arrives in 1670 in Paris with the intention of starting a doctor's career.

Assistant Christian Huygens

As was customary, he had letters of recommendation for seeking help in settling in the capital. One of them was addressed to the wife of royal officer Jean-Baptiste Colbert - Marie Sharron, who came from the same places as Papen. Denis, when talking with her husband, expressed his desire to engage in scientific research, and he was lucky. Colbert, on behalf of the King, organized the work of a group of scientists with the participation of the famous Christian Huygens, who needed an assistant. Denis enthusiastically took this place.

He began to help Huygens with the experiments with vacuum, which then was interested in the famous Dutchman. In particular, he perfected the air pump, through which a sparse medium was created, for the first time using a special valve. In 1674, Papen's book New Experiments with Emptiness, devoted to the effect of the airless environment on plants and living organisms, was published. About the work of Papen and his pump became known to Robert Boyle, one of the founders of the English royal scientific society, which invited the Frenchman to London.

Papin in England

From 1676 to 1681 he worked in London in close cooperation with Boyle, and later with another prominent scientist - Robert Hooke. He provides experiments on the study of the properties of gases, simultaneously engaged in their own projects.

In 1679, he presented his invention - "a new digester, or a means for softening the bones" - the prototype of a modern pressure cooker and autoclave for the heat treatment of various materials. When developing this device, he applied the knowledge that he received as a physicist. Denis Papen suggested using the increased pressure produced during heating when cooking meat. Its boiler - a vessel with a lid, which was fastened to the screws, which made it possible to achieve tightness. In the lid was placed a valve, weighed down by a load, allowing to bleed excess pressure.

But the inventor suffered a failure - his boiler did not find practical application. Screw fastening made it difficult to use, the lack of the ability to quickly release all the air after the end of cooking leveled the gain in time - you had to wait for cooling to remove the lid. The working model of the pressure cooker appeared only after more than two centuries.

Tortures in Europe

In 1681, he traveled to Italy at the invitation of Giovanni Ambrosio Sarotti, president of the Venice Scientific Academy, who dreamed of giving it a significance similar to that of the Paris Academy and the Royal Society of London. But his attempts failed when he was denied funding from the authorities.

In Europe, persecution of Protestants is intensified, and because of the repeal by Louis XIV of laws that protected the rights of Huguenots, Papen lost the opportunity to return to his homeland. From 1684 to 1687 he worked in London, then moved to Germany and held the position of professor of mathematics at the University of Marburg. There he decides to marry his cousin, who fled from persecution from France and left a widow with a little daughter in her arms.

The inventor of the steam engine

In 1690, he published a description of the device for pumping water, which for the first time uses a steam engine. On the invention of an engine using the power of steam, he was prompted by the experience gained by him while working on the digester. He then first felt the power of the heated steam. The details of the construction became clear in many respects during the correspondence with Gottfried Leibniz, when discussing the enormous number of theoretical and practical scientific problems that this great scientist was leading with him. Denis Papin first applied the preparation of hot steam in a separate tank - the boiler - and the safety valve, which in many respects made the application of the steam engine real. The scientist suggested using his engine for a self-propelled vehicle and for a boat capable of moving quickly against the current using a propeller.

The idea of a river steamer caused opposition to the powerful guild of river carriers, who saw a strong competitor in the ship, which was developed by Denis Papin. The portrait of a scientist against the backdrop of a self-propelled vessel destroyed by a crowd of boatmen and barge haulers was often published in history textbooks, although reliable information about this fact was not preserved.

Papen was put forward and other outstanding ideas for the time. Among them - a new glass melting furnace, original ballistae - guns for throwing charges over long distances, including using air (prototypes of grenade launchers). In his legacy - a submarine, the principle of the blast furnace, the use of vacuum for long-term storage of food, a centrifugal pump.

Anonymous grave and a huge monument

The exact date of the death of an outstanding scientist is unknown, as well as the place of his burial. It is believed that he died between 1712 and 1714. in London. Papen's last years were marred by total lack of money and conflict with the Royal Scientific Society, which challenged his priority in the invention of the steam boiler.

For a century and a half deserved honors, which were finally awarded to Denis Papin. The portrait of the scientist adorns the Paris Academy, the Royal Scientific Society, he is in all the textbooks on the history of science. An impressive size bronze statue is installed in the homeland of a physicist in Blois.

The image of the unrecognized genius is also used to prove that the industrial revolution and the breakthrough in technology, accomplished in the XIX century, have also French roots.