After French physicist Denis Papin built the first piston engine in 1690, steam-powered machinery pulled human society toward industrialization. The subsequent inventions of the 18th-century Englishman Thomas Newcomen and Scottish engineer James Watt, the latter revered as the father of the modern steam engine, greatly improved the efficiency of steam machinery.
自從法國物理學家帕品（Denis Papin）在 1690 年開發出第一部活塞式發動機，蒸氣機便將人類社會帶入工業化；18 世紀英人紐柯曼（Thomas Newcomen）和被公認為「現代蒸氣機之父」的蘇格蘭工程師瓦特，持續研製大幅提高工作效率的蒸氣機。