Energy · 1884

Steam turbine

Parsons spins a multi-stage turbine at 18,000 rpm to drive a dynamo directly.

Charles Parsons' 1884 compound turbine expanded steam across many blade stages, ideal for electric generators. Turbines scaled from 7.5 kW to over 1,000 MW per unit, and today they generate most of the world's electricity from coal, gas and nuclear heat.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

Self-excited dynamo 1866
Watt steam engine 1776

What it led to 5

Gas turbine power plant 1939
Jet engine 1939
Pressurized water reactor 1957
Combined-cycle gas plant 1960
Concentrated solar power 1982

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

UK electricity output since 1896 Latest: 3.57M MWh (1998) Source: Our World in Data

Blue Riband: fastest westbound Atlantic liner Latest: 34.5 knots (1952) Source: Wikipedia: Blue Riband, westbound record breakers; USNI Proceedings, October 1933: A New Queen of the Seas

Energy used per dollar of GDP Latest: 1.21 kWh per $ (2022) Source: Our World in Data