Scottish engineer James Watt made a grand leap in the history of energy generation in 1765, when he conceived the idea to add a separate chamber for the condensation of steam to water to occur in. (This was called the “condenser.”) He was repairing a Newcomen engine and thought it was inefficient to repeatedly cool down and heat up the entire cylinder. The unit of power, the watt, is named after him.
Modern power generation still uses Watt’s concept, having a separate boiler and condenser. A turbine between them produces work, for the same reason as in a Newcomen engine.
