Richard Trevithick

Richard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He was an early pioneer of steam-powered road and rail transport, and his most significant contributions were the development of the first high-pressure steam engine and the first working railway steam locomotive. The world's first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place on 21 February 1804, when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.

13 April 1771

Born on the same birth day (13 April): Arthur Matthew Weld Downing • Bill Clements • Dan Campbell • Drago Jančar • Ellie Lambeti • Glenn Howerton • Hendrik van Rheede • Herbert Yardley • Madalyn Murray O'Hair • Mikhail Shufutinsky • Orlando Letelier • Ricky Schroder • Robert Orville Anderson • Steve Camp

Born in the same month (April 1771): Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg • Nicolas Chopin