75 Hero uses steam
Hero, a Greek scientist in Alexandria, devises various forms of steam engine

1690 Steam engine with piston
The French scientist Denis Papin, while professor of mathematics at Marburg, develops the first steam engine to use a piston

1698 First practical steam engine
Thomas Savery creates the first practical steam engine, designed to pump water out of mines

1710 Newcomen improves steam engine
Thomas Newcomen creates a piston steam engine, with the steam condensed in the cylinder by a jet of cold water

1764 Watt condenses steam
James Watt ponders on the inefficiency of contemporary steam engines and invents the condenser

1769 Cugnot's steam wagon
French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot successfully tests a steam wagon, probably the first working mechanical vehicle

1802 Britain's first working steamboat
A steam tug designed by William Symington, the Charlotte Dundas, goes into service on the Forth and Clyde canal

1803 Trevithick demonstrates steam carriage in London
Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick drives a steam carriage in London, from Holborn to Paddington and back

1807 Clermont on Hudson river
US engineer Robert Fulton launches a steamboat, the Clermont, on New York's Hudson river

1813 Puffing Billy
William Hedley's Puffing Billy, the first steam locomotive running on smooth rails, goes to work at Wylam colliery

1814 Times printed on steam press
The Times, England's oldest daily newspaper, becomes the first to print on a steam press

1832 Iron ship steams to Africa
The paddle steamer Alburkah becomes the first ocean-going iron ship, completing the journey from England to the Niger

1838 Sirius steams across Atlantic
An Irish packet steamer, the Sirius, becomes the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, completing the journey to New York in 19 days

1838 Brunel's Great Western crosses Atlantic
Brunel's Great Western, a wooden paddle-steamer, arives in New York the day after the Sirius, with the record for an Atlantic crossing already reduced to 15 days

1843 Brunel's Great Britain
Isambard Kingdom Brunel launches the Great Britain, the first iron steamship designed for the transatlantic passenger trade

1852 Transcontinental route in Nicaragua
US entrepreneur Cornelius Vanderbilt conveys passengers across the American continent through Nicaragua by steamship and horse and carriage

1863 World's first underground railway
The Metropolitan Railway, the world's first to go underground, opens in London using steam trains between Paddington and Farringdon Street

1897 Turbinia breaks speed record
Turbinia, powered by the newly invented Parsons steam turbine, breaks the speed record when Queen Victoria reviews her fleet

1902 Steam car sets new record
French automobile pioneer Leon Serpollet sets a new land speed record, driving a steam car at 75 mph along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice

1916  March 24 U-boat strikes in Channel
A German U-boat sinks the Channel steamer Sussex, with the loss of many civilian lives

1923 Pacific 231
Arthur Honegger's Pacific 231, inspired by the sounds of a steam train, has its first performance in Paris

1928 Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse makes his first appearance in Walt Disney's short animated film Steamboat Willie

1978 Andrew Motion's The Pleasure Steamers
English author Andrew Motion publishes his first collection of poems, The Pleasure Steamers

1979 Three Mile Island disaster
Partial meltdown of a US nuclear power station at Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, spreads radioactive steam over a large surrounding area