Abstract
An iconographic detail as well as some archive documents help us to prove that the first steam machine, or the “bomb of fire” as it was called in the eighteenth century, introduced in Cuba in 1797, was constructed according to the project and under the direction of the father of modern engineering in Spain and Russia, Agustin de Betancourt y Molina who was not only a great inventor and engineer, architect and city constructor, but also one of the founders of science “Theory of Machines and Mechanisms” (TMM). He was born on February 1, 1758, on the island of Tenerife and during his life managed to visit many countries – France, England, Germany, Russia, but he never came to Cuba. However he figured prominently in the development of innovative technical ideas of the Island.
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References
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all my Cuban, Russian and Spanish friends who helped me to finish my investigation on the first steam machine introduced in the sugar industry of Cuba.
I also hope that the young generation will study much more the History of Machine and Mechanism Science as well as biographies of famous scientists and philosophers.
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Egorova, O.V. (2011). A Mystery of One Havana Portrait: The First Steam Machine in Cuba. In: de la Portilla, J., Ceccarelli, M. (eds) History of Machines for Heritage and Engineering Development. History of Mechanism and Machine Science, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1251-5_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1251-5_8
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