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): David Robinson (philanthropist) • Friedrich Graf von Wrangel • Glenn Howerton • J. B. Lightfoot • James Ensor • John-Allison Weiss • Leopold Fitzinger • Mahmoud Kahraba • Olga Tañón • Oswald Bruce Cooper • Philippe de Rothschild • Pierre Jélyotte • Ricky Schroder • Samuel Beckett

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