Henry Bessemer
19 January 1813 – 15 March 1898
Sir Henry Bessemer (1813-1898) was an English inventor and engineer best known for the Bessemer process, the first inexpensive industrial method for mass-producing steel from molten pig iron. His invention underpinned the great expansion of railways, shipbuilding, and construction in the late nineteenth century.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Henry Bessemer.
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- Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) Overlapped 79 years →
- Queen Victoria (1819–1901) Overlapped 79 years →
Life events
Henry Bessemer was born the son of Anthony Bessemer, an engineer and typefounder.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAs a young man Bessemer settled in London, where he began a prolific career of invention without formal schooling.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgBessemer married Anne Allen, to whom he remained married for over sixty years.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgBessemer developed a mechanized method of making 'gold' paint powder, which he kept as a trade secret and which financed his later work.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgBessemer described his converter process in the paper 'The Manufacture of Iron Without Fuel' at the British Association meeting in Cheltenham.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgBessemer established Henry Bessemer and Company in Sheffield to exploit his process commercially.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgBessemer was elected FRS in recognition of his contributions to science and industry.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgBessemer received a knighthood, granted in part for his early invention of perforated dies for stamping government documents.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgBessemer died at his home in Denmark Hill, London, at the age of 85.
Source: en.wikipedia.org