James Watt & Watt Lunar Crater – Manchester, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 28.878 W 002° 14.199
30U E 550657 N 5926083
A statue of the famous Scottish inventor whose improvements to steam engines helped kick start the Industrial Revolution. He was born 1736 and died 1819.
Waymark Code: WMDK52
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/23/2012
Views: 5
James Watt and his Statue
James Watt is sometimes credited with inventing the steam engine. However he did not invent them, but made them significantly more efficient. His design improvements made them much more economic to run and steam engines soon became widely used.
He introduced the concept of measuring power based on horsepower and the SI unit of power the watt was named after him.
In the 1850s the city of Manchester was laying out a new esplanade in front of the Royal Infirmary and wanted to have sculptures placed there. Following a suggestion from the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society it was decided that they would erect a statue to honour James Watt.
Manchester was one of the first major industrial cities in the world. They wanted to recognise Watt’s contribution to their success as a city even though he had no direct connection with the city.
In order to save costs it was decided to copy an existing marble statue of Watt that existed in Westminster Abbey.
William Theed made the copy of the original statue and it was then cast in bronze by Robinson and Cottam of Pimlico in London. James Watt had actually produced a machine that enabled copies of sculptures to be made, but it is not known whether Theed used it. http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/stories/the_age_of_the_engineer/03.ST.03/?scene=5&tv=true
The statue shows Watt seated on a plinth with dividers in his right hand taking measurements from a drawing of a steam engine on his lap. It is 2.1 metres high on a 2.4 metre high stone pedestal and was unveiled on 26th June 1857.
There have been many changes in the area, the hospital was demolished in 1909, and then the public square now known as Piccadilly Gardens was renovated and re-laid in 2001.
The statue is now protected as a listed building, the ENGLISH HERITAGE BUILDING ID IS 1246946. http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1246946
Watt Crater on the Moon
The Watt crater is in the south eastern part of the moon and has a diameter of 66km. It is next to the slightly younger crater Steinheil which has slightly obscured the north western third of the rim of the Watt crater.
Details taken from http://www.enotes.com/topic/Watt_(crater)
Pictures of Watt crater next to Steinheil crater can be seen on this website http://lupuvictor.blogspot.com/2011/12/steinheil-and-watt-pictures-with-moon.html#axzz1jr5Zh09Y
It is the joint 497th largest crater on the moon. (calculated using data at this web site) http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/lunarform/cratallp.html)
Website of the Extraterrestrial Location: [Web Link]
Website of location on Earth: [Web Link]
Celestial Body: Moon
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