Hero, a Greek scientist in Alexandria, devises various forms of steam engine

The French scientist Denis Papin, while professor of mathematics at Marburg, develops the first steam engine to use a piston

Thomas Savery creates the first practical steam engine, designed to pump water out of mines

Thomas Newcomen creates a piston steam engine, with the steam condensed in the cylinder by a jet of cold water

James Watt ponders on the inefficiency of contemporary steam engines and invents the condenser

French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot successfully tests a steam wagon, probably the first working mechanical vehicle

A steam tug designed by William Symington, the Charlotte Dundas, goes into service on the Forth and Clyde canal

Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick drives a steam carriage in London, from Holborn to Paddington and back

US engineer Robert Fulton launches a steamboat, the Clermont, on New York's Hudson river

William Hedley's Puffing Billy, the first steam locomotive running on smooth rails, goes to work at Wylam colliery

The Times, England's oldest daily newspaper, becomes the first to print on a steam press

The paddle steamer Alburkah becomes the first ocean-going iron ship, completing the journey from England to the Niger

An Irish packet steamer, the Sirius, becomes the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, completing the journey to New York in 19 days

Brunel's Great Western, a wooden paddle-steamer, arives in New York the day after the Sirius, with the record for an Atlantic crossing already reduced to 15 days

Isambard Kingdom Brunel launches the Great Britain, the first iron steamship designed for the transatlantic passenger trade

US entrepreneur Cornelius Vanderbilt conveys passengers across the American continent through Nicaragua by steamship and horse and carriage

The Metropolitan Railway, the world's first to go underground, opens in London using steam trains between Paddington and Farringdon Street

Turbinia, powered by the newly invented Parsons steam turbine, breaks the speed record when Queen Victoria reviews her fleet

French automobile pioneer Leon Serpollet sets a new land speed record, driving a steam car at 75 mph along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice

A German U-boat sinks the Channel steamer Sussex, with the loss of many civilian lives

Arthur Honegger's Pacific 231, inspired by the sounds of a steam train, has its first performance in Paris

Mickey Mouse makes his first appearance in Walt Disney's short animated film Steamboat Willie

English author Andrew Motion publishes his first collection of poems, The Pleasure Steamers

Partial meltdown of a US nuclear power station at Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, spreads radioactive steam over a large surrounding area