Charles Parsons

Engineer who designed the compound steam turbine. Parsons, the youngest son of the 3rd Earl of Rosse, studied mathematics at Trinity College Dublin and St John’s College Cambridge before joining W G Armstrong as an apprentice. In 1884, while working for Clarke, Chapman and Co, he designed his steam turbine. Parson’s turbine would revolutionise power generation and naval engineering. In 1897, the demonstration of his steam yacht Turbinia led to the design of turbine powered ships including the HMS Dreadnought in 1906. Parsons was a Fellow of the Royal Society and received the Order of Merit in 1911.