Subjects

Discovery and Invention

Tales of scientific innovation and merchant enterprise, from steam power and life-saving medicines to new trade partners far away, and new ways to reach them.

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49

Spinning Jenny

James Hargreaves’s historic invention was not without its critics when it first appeared.

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50

Asylum Christi

Samuel Smiles explains how Tudor England was transformed from sleepy backwater to hive of industry.

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51

Not for Sale

Sir Humphry Davy pleads with Britain’s scientists not to be bought by Napoleon’s gold.

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52

Japan’s First Railway

As Japan’s ruling shoguns resist the tide of progress, a Nagasaki-based Scottish entrepreneur steps in.

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53

Thomas Brassey

The unsung surveyor from Cheshire, who built railways and made friends across the world.

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54

A Leader by Example

George Stephenson won the admiration of French navvies by showing them how a Geordie works a shovel.

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