Saturday 30 August 2014

Starting a farmhand, this clock-maker invented things, revolutionized mining & virtually contributed to Swedish development!!!

Christopher Polhammar (18 December 1661 – 30 August 1751), better known as  Christopher Polhem was a Swedish scientist, inventor and industrialist. He made significant contributions to the economic and industrial development of Sweden, particularly mining. Polhem was born on the island of Gotland in the small village of Tingstäde, situated northeast of Visby.

When Polhem was 8, his father died and his mother, Christina Eriksdotter Schening from Vadstena, Östergötland remarried. As a result of conflicts with his stepfather, his private tuition was no longer paid for and Polhem was sent to live with his uncle in Stockholm. In Stockholm he attended a German school until the age of 12 when his uncle died; once again Polhem was left without the possibility of education. He took a job as a farmhand on Vansta, a property in Södertörn, Stockholm. Read more...