Henry Bessemer

Date of Birth: January 19, 1813

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Date of Death: March 15, 1898

Biography

Sir Henry Bessemer was an English inventor and engineer whose steel-making process would become the most important technique for making steel in the nineteenth century. Born in Charlton, Hertfordshire, England, Bessemer was the son of an engineer and inventor. He showed an early aptitude for engineering and started his career as an inventor at a young age. The most notable of his many inventions was the Bessemer Converter, a process for creating steel by blowing air through molten pig iron to remove impurities. This process revolutionized the steel industry by significantly reducing the cost and time required to produce steel, making it more accessible for various applications, including railways, construction, and shipbuilding. Bessemer’s contributions extended beyond metallurgy. He also invented a type of graphite pencil and developed improvements in sugar refining and the manufacturing of gold powder. For his contributions to engineering and industry, he was knighted in 1879. Bessemer’s innovations laid the groundwork for the mass production of steel, which became a cornerstone of the Industrial Revolution.

5 Interesting Facts about Henry Bessemer

1. Henry Bessemer’s father, Anthony Bessemer, was also an inventor and held several patents.

2. The Bessemer process reduced the cost of steel production from £40 per ton to £6–7 per ton.

3. Bessemer earned over 100 patents throughout his lifetime for various inventions.

4. He also invented a machine for making bronze powder, which significantly reduced the cost of gold paint.

5. Bessemer was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1879 for his contributions to engineering and industry.

5 Most Interesting Quotes from Henry Bessemer

1. “I had an immense advantage over many others dealing with the problem inasmuch as I had no fixed ideas derived from long-established practice to control and bias my mind, and did not suffer from the general belief that whatever is, is right.”

2. “The man who is so narrow-minded as to believe that a thing cannot be done unless he can do it himself is a very poor man.”

3. “The key to all problems is the problem of education.”

4. “Invention is the most important product of man’s creative brain.”

5. “Success is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”

Highest Net Worth Achieved

At the peak of his career, Henry Bessemer’s net worth was estimated to be equivalent to millions of pounds in today’s currency, largely due to his successful patents and the commercialization of the Bessemer process.