Birthdate: January 19, 1736

Sun Sign: Capricorn

Birthplace: Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland

Died: August 25, 1819

Eighteenth-century Scottish inventor James Watt developed the Newcomen steam engine, by inventing the Watt steam engine, which brough about the Industrial Revolution in Britain and the world. He also co-owned the firm Boulton and Watt and laid down concepts such as horsepower and the watt, the SI unit of power.