James Watt… Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar - El Cid… Santa Teresa de Jesus… Henry VIII of England… Biographies Multiposts
Biographies of famous and historical figures
Biographies of famous:
- Biography of James Watt
- Biography of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar - El Cid
- Biography of Santa Teresa de Jesus
- Biography of Henry VIII of England
Biography of James Watt
(1736/01/19 - 1819/08/25)
James Watt Scottish mechanical engineer and inventor
Was born the 19 January 1736 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, a seaport on the Firth of Clyde, Scotland.
His father was a Carpenter owner and contractor, his mother, Agnes Muirhead, came from a distinguished family for which he received a good education. His grandfather, Thomas Watt, was teacher of mathematics. Despite being raised by very religious parents, later become Deist.
Not attended school being home-schooled by his mother, although he would later attend the Greenock Grammar School. Very early he demonstrated great manual skill, aptitude for mathematics and engineering capabilities. Child, he worked in the workshop of his father, and from the age of 19 as a builder of mathematical instruments. Very interested in steam engines, invented by Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen, determined the properties of steam, especially the relationship of its density with temperature and pressure.
He designed a separate condensing Chamber for the steam engine that avoided the huge losses of steam in the cylinder and intensified conditions of vacuum. Its first patent in 1769, covered this device and other improvements of Newcomen machine, as steam shirt, oil lubrication and the insulation of the cylinder in order to keep the high temperatures necessary for maximum efficiency.
Member of the British inventor was a John Roebuck, who funded his research. In 1775, they began to manufacture steam engines and continued with investigations that allowed her to patenting other important inventions, such as the rotary engine to drive several types of machinery; the motor of double effect, in which steam can be allocated to one and another side of the cylinder, and the steam indicator which records the vapour pressure of the engine.
He retired from the company in 1800 to devote himself completely to the research work. The false idea of Watt consider as the true inventor of the steam engine is due to the large number of contributions made to its development. The regulator centrifugal or ball invented in 1788, the power unit Watt (watt) was named in his honor.
In 1767 he invented an accessory to suit the telescopes used in the measurement of distances. In 1785, Watt was appointed member of the Royal Society of London, and in 1814 the French Science Academy. In 1806, Glasgow University appointed him doctor honoris cause.
James Watt died August 25, 1819 in Heathfield, England.
Biography of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar - El Cid
(Unknown - 1099/07/10)
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar El Cid
Spanish caudillo
He was probably born in 1048 in a noble family of Vivar, village in the North of the province of Burgos.
CID: 'Sid', Mr, Knight dialectal Arabic. CID: from the latin "Campus Doctor", winner of battles.
The infante Sancho armed him Knight and led to the first military expedition. When he died the King Fernando I, Sancho , who was the eldest son, inherited Castilla and the rest of the territories were distributed among the other children.
It was named "Prince" Rodrigo of the actual host. Sancho II tried to unify the plateau and replace by the Castilian leonesa hegemony. Broken hostilities with his brother Alfonso VI, decided to hold an armed encounter that would have the decisive character of a God's judgment. The Castilians won and Alfonso would not abide by the result. Later they returned to face, again defeating Sancho, who was crowned King of León. The Knight Vellido Dolfos ended the life of the Castilian King, so his brother Alfonso was recognized King of León and, before becoming it of Castilla, el Cid, as figure more representative of Castilla and friend of the late King, took an oath that it had nothing to do with that fact, in the famous oath of Santa Gadea.
The situation of the Cid declined with the new King, while he had given as a wife to his niece Jimena Díaz. The King commissioned Rodrigo go collect some outstanding pariahs to the King of Seville and when he returned to the Court accused him of embezzlement and banished him.
Accompanied by some of his faithful Knights, offered their service to Christian and Muslim Kings. He fought against and in favor of King Mostain II of Zaragoza or Sancho Ramírez and Pedro I of Aragon. One of his main achievements was the Kingdom of Valencia. The Almoravids tried to conquer Valencia, but defeated them in 1097.
July 10, 1099, died in Valencia at the age of His wife Jimena could not hold the Kingdom of Valencia, and asked for help to King Alfonso VI. Not finding the King who held that distant territory, ended up abandoning it and marching from there all Christians, including the body of Rodrigo, taking him to the Monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña, Burgos.
The figure of the Cid, resulted in the first Chanson de Geste of Spanish literature, the "Cantar de Mio Cid".
Biography of Santa Teresa de Jesus
(1515/03/28 - 1582/10/04)
Santa Teresa de Jesús Teresa de Ahumada
Mystical writer
Born March 28, 1515 in Gotarrendura, Ávila.
From his earliest years, you start to feel mystical exaltation. At age 7 escape from his house with his brother in search of martyrdom. When it boasts 12 years and already at home, death of his mother, which affected her deeply and seemed to decide their religious vocation.
At age 16 he entered the convent of Santa María de Gracia, forced by his father alarmed by their bad companies and by reading books of chivalry. November 3, 1534, at the age of 19, he professed at the convent of the incarnation of Avila. Falls seriously ill soon after and her father takes her to take mineral baths: the first symptoms of his neurosis. In 1537, he suffers an attack of paroxysm, and was paralyzed for two years.
Now healthy, their faith weakens, until it returned to the last religious ardor that says, Christ appears to me with angry countenance. He believes that the cause of his religious coldness comes from his frequent dealings with lay, and decides to reform the order of Carmel, to which belonged, and found barefoot and enclosed nunsreligions. Your company is great difficulties, but he had the help of one of his sisters, a relative, more pious and the Duchess of Alba.
His main works are in prose. In terms of their poetry, they were composed at certain times in more mystical ardor, which she said God inspired them.
Santa Teresa de Jesús died later of performed his work of reform, in Alba de Tormes, October 4, 1582, at sixty-seven years.
Biography of Henry VIII of England
(1491/06/28 - 1547/01/28)
Henry VIII King of England
28 June 1491 was born in London (England). Son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.
11 June 1509 he married Catherine of Aragon. King of England and Lord of Ireland from 22 April 1509 until his death. Second monarch of the Tudor House, in 1511 became part of the Holy League against France , taking command of the British troops in 1513 in the North of France. In 1514 after the marriage of his sister Mary Louis XII of France, he created an Alliance.
In 1527 as a consequence that his wife had not given him an heir male, made public his desire to divorce her. Another factor that took him to separate from his wife was the deep love that Enrique was Anne Boleyn, a Lady of honour of his wife. After several problems with the papacy because of disagreement with the divorce he decided to end their marriage. In 1532 he forced the clergy to proclaim him head of the English church.
A year later he married secretly Ana Bolena, being by Thomas Cranmer annulled marriage to Catalina and qualifying it as valid the contracted with Ana. He was excommunicated and he repudiates the papal jurisdiction in 1534 and was awarded the Supreme ecclesiastical authority in England. In 1536 he ordered to execute Ana Bolena after accusing her of incest and adultery.
After her death he married Joan Seymour, who pass away a year later in the birth of his son Edward. In 1540 he married Anne of Cleves to obtain the Alliance between England and the Protestant princes of Germany, that they would divorce a few months later. That year married Catherine Howard, who had run in 1542 after being accused of unchastity before marriage and adulterous. A year later it took out his union with his last wife, Catherine Parr.
He participated in the war with Scotland and France (1542-1546), where his army defeated the Scots. In 1544 seized Boulogne to the French.
Henry VIII died January 28, 1547, in London. Jane Seymour was buried in St George's Chapel, in Windsor Castle, next to his third wife.