James Watt and the Unit of Power Named for Him

It’s the birthday of the seminal Scottish chemist and mechanical engineer James Watt, best known for his improvements in the steam engine that provided a considerable boost to the nascent Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century.

Watt’s name, of course, is the most widely used unit of power, which provides the opportunity to say this: If you’re speaking with someone and wondering about his grasp of basic science, an immediate clue is his use/ misuse of the term “Watt.”  Power is the rate at which time energy changes from one form to another, like “miles per hour” is the rate at which an object is changing position. “Watts per hour” is like saying “miles per hour per hour”; it’s meaningless.   Similarly, describing the amount of energy consumed in Watts is like saying “the distance from New York to London is 400 miles per hour.”

Business tip: 

The pic above hangs in the Huntington Library near Los Angeles, one of the grandest settings in the U.S., treasured for its amazingly diverse botanical gardens, its impressive collection of European and American art, and its incredible collection of important books and manuscripts.  It is said that Watt deeply disliked this portrait, as he thought it made him appear dour; he had a point there, I have to admit.

When we lived in Los Angeles, I maintained an annual membership that enabled me to take a limitless number of business contacts there as my guest, a privilege I used so frequently that several of the staff started to greet me by name. (See pics below.) Trust me: the experience to be had walking around the Huntington far outstrips meeting someone at a Starbucks. For this reason alone, if you happen to live in proximity to such an institution, the annual membership is worth every penny.