[krallja]

> The scientists did occasionally deliver something valuable, often in fact paradigm-changing, but importantly, this only became very relevant around the turn of 20th century.

James Watt was only able to build efficient steam engines because Joseph Black discovered latent heat in 1761. Without steam engines, there’s no industrial revolution.

[xyzzyz]

> James Watt was only able to build efficient steam engines because Joseph Black discovered latent heat in 1761.

No, in fact both Black and Watt explicitly claimed that their research and results were independent.

[shakna]

Whilst Hero's aeolipile is incredibly wasteful, the ancient world did have the right conceptual basis for steam engines to have developed.