this house was built in 1874

- jest wielu znanych aktorów there are many well known actors

- nie ma nikogo, kto mógłby to zrobić there’s no one who could do it

- czy jest Bóg, czy go nie ma? does God exist, or not?

- był sobie kiedyś stary król there was a. lived once an old king

- nie było cię jeszcze wtedy na świecie this was before you were born

- kiedy mnie już z wami nie będzie euf. when I am no more a. I am no longer with you euf.

- myślę, więc jestem I think, therefore I am

- być albo nie być to be or not to be

- to dla nas być albo nie być this is our to be or not to be, this is our Waterloo

- nie ma już dla niej ratunku nothing can save her now

- jest wiele powodów do zadowolenia there’s good reason to be happy

- nie ma obaw a. strachu pot. ! no problem! pot., not to worry! pot.

- nie ma powodu do obaw there is no reason a. need to worry

- są sprawy, których nigdy nie zrozumiesz there are (certain) things that you’ll never understand

- nie ma co płakać/gadać it’s no use crying/talking (about it)

- nie ma co żałować (there’s) no need to be sorry

- nie ma co a. czego żałować it’s no great loss

- nie ma czemu się dziwić, że… it’s no surprise a. wonder that…

- nie ma o co się kłócić there’s nothing to quarrel about

- nie ma czym się martwić/czego się bać there’s nothing to worry about/to be afraid of

- nie ma z czego być dumnym (it’s) nothing to be proud of

- nie ma z czego się cieszyć/śmiać there’s nothing to rejoice/to laugh about

- „dziękuję za podwiezienie” – „nie ma za co” ‘thanks for the lift’ – ‘don’t mention it’ a. ‘you’re welcome‘

- „przepraszam, że panu przerwałem” – „nie ma za co” ‘sorry I interrupted you’ – ‘that’s all right’

- już cię/was nie ma! off with you!

- być w pracy/szkole to be at work/at school

- być w teatrze/na koncercie to be at the theatre/at a concert

- teraz wychodzę, ale będę w domu o piątej I’m going out now, but I’ll be home at five

- dzisiaj nie ma go w biurze he’s not in the office today

- w pokoju nikogo nie ma/nie było there is/was no-one in the room

- jest już piąta, a jego jak nie ma, tak nie ma it’s already five, and he’s still not here a. there’s still no trace of him

- „czy jest Robert?” – „nie, nie ma go, jest jeszcze w szkole” ‘is Robert in?’ – ‘no, he’s not, he’s still at school’

- „są jeszcze bilety na ostatni seans?” – „niestety, już nie ma” ‘do you still have tickets for the last showing?’ – ‘sorry, all sold out’

- czy będziesz jutro w domu? ‘will you be at home a. in home tomorrow?’

- kiedy (ona) będzie znowu w Warszawie? when will she be in Warsaw again?

- byłem wczoraj u Roberta/u babci I was at Robert’s/granny’s yesterday, I went to see Robert/granny yesterday

- był przy narodzinach swojej córki he was present at the birth of his daughter

- nigdy nie byłem w Rosji I’ve never been to Russia

- „skąd jesteś?” – „(jestem) z Krakowa/Polski” ‘where are you from?’ – ‘(I’m) from Cracow/Poland’

- „gdzie jesteś?” – „tutaj!” ‘where are you?’ – ‘(I’m) here!’

- „jestem!” (przy odczytywaniu listy) ‘here!’, ‘present’

- będąc w Londynie, odwiedziłem Annę when a. while I was in London I went to see Anna

- biblioteka jest w budynku głównym the library is in the main building

- w jednym pudełku jest dziesięć bateryjek there are ten batteries in a packet

- w domu nie było nic do jedzenia there was nothing to eat at home a. in the house

- co jest w tym pudle? what’s in this box?

- gdzie jest moja książka/najbliższa apteka? where’s my book/the nearest chemist’s?

- co jest dzisiaj na lunch? what’s for lunch today?

- wczoraj na kolację był dorsz there was cod for dinner yesterday

- „dużo masz tych ziemniaków?” – „oj, będzie” pot. ‘got a lot of those spuds?’ – ‘loads’ pot.

- będzie, będzie, więcej się nie zmieści pot. that’s plenty a. that’ll do, there’s no room for any more

- jest godzina druga po południu it’s two in the afternoon a. two p.m.

- nie ma jeszcze szóstej rano it’s not yet six a.m.

- zanim dotrzemy do domu, będzie ósma wieczorem/północ it’ll be eight p.m./midnight by the time we reach home

- był maj it was in May

- to było w grudniu 1999 it was in December 1999

- to było dawno, dawno temu this was a long, long time ago

- jest piękny ranek it’s a fine morning

- jest mroźno/upalnie it’s nippy/hot

- wczoraj był deszcz/mróz it was raining/freezing yesterday

- ciekawe, czy jutro będzie pogoda I wonder if it’s going to be fine tomorrow

- nie pamiętam dokładnie, to było dość dawno temu I can’t really remember, it was some time ago

- z niego jeszcze coś będzie he’ll turn out all right

- co z niego będzie? how will he turn out?, what will become of him?

- będzie z niego dobry pracownik he’ll be a good worker

- kuchmistrz to z ciebie nie będzie you’ll never make a chef

- z tych kwiatów nic już nie będzie these flowers/plants have had it pot.

- z naszych planów/wakacji nic nie będzie nothing will come of our plans/holidays

- nic z tego nie będzie it’s hopeless

- nic dobrego z tego nie będzie nothing good will come of it

- tyle pracy i nic z tego nie ma (he’s done) so much work and nothing to show for it

- koncert/egzamin jest jutro the concert/exam is tomorrow

- zebranie było w sali konferencyjnej the meeting was (held) in the conference room

- jutro nie będzie a. nie ma lekcji there are no classes tomorrow

- był do ciebie telefon there was a phone call for you

- czy były do mnie jakieś telefony? has anyone called me?

- był wypadek w kopalni there was an accident in the mine

- co będzie, jeśli nie zdasz egzaminu? what’s going to happen if you fail the exam?

- co będzie, jeśli ktoś nas zobaczy? supposing a. what if someone sees us?

- nie martw się, wszystko będzie dobrze don’t worry, it’ll be a. it’s going to be fine

- w życiu bywa rozmaicie you never know what life may bring

- opowiedziałem jej wszystko, tak jak było I told her everything just as it happened

- co ci/jej jest? what’s the matter with you/her?

- coś mi/jemu jest something’s the matter with me/him

- czy jemu coś jest? is anything the matter with him?

- nic mu nie będzie, to tylko przeziębienie he’ll be fine, it’s only a cold

- być na weselu/zebraniu to be at a wedding/meeting

- wczoraj byliśmy na przyjęciu we were at a reception yesterday

- być w liceum/na uniwersytecie to be at secondary school/at university

- być na studiach to be a student a. at college

- być na prawie/medycynie to study law/medicine

- był na trzecim roku anglistyki he was in his third year in the English department

- być na kursie komputerowym to be on a computer course

- być na wojnie to go to war

- być pierwszym/drugim to be the first/second to arrive

- był na mecie trzeci he came third

- czy był już listonosz? has the postman been a. come yet?

- być pod urokiem/wrażeniem kogoś/czegoś to be charmed/impressed by sb/sth

- być pod wpływem kogoś/czegoś to be under the influence of sb/sth

- prowadzić samochód, będąc pod wpływem alkoholu to drive while under the influence of alcohol

- być w ciąży to be pregnant

- być w dobrym/złym humorze to be in a good/bad mood

- nie być w nastroju do zabawy not to feel like going out a. partying

- być w doskonałej formie to be in excellent form a. in fine fettle

- być w strachu to be scared

- być w rozpaczy to be in despair

- bądźmy dobrej myśli let’s hope for the best

- jestem przed obiadem I haven’t had my lunch yet

- jestem już po śniadaniu I’ve already had breakfast

- był siedem lat po studiach he had graduated seven years earlier

- być po kielichu/po paru kieliszkach pot. to have had a drop/a few euf.

- być na diecie to be on a diet

- być na kaszce a. kleiku to be on a diet of gruel

- być na emeryturze/rencie to be on a pension

- sukienka jest do kolan the dress is knee-length

- wody było do kostek the water was ankle-deep

- firanka była do połowy okna the net curtain reached halfway down the window

- chwila nieuwagi i było po wazonie one unguarded moment and the vase was smashed to pieces

- jest już po nim/nas! it’s curtains for him/us! pot.

- jeszcze chwila i byłoby po mnie another instant and it would have been curtains for me a. would have been all up with me pot.

- być nauczycielem/malarzem to be a teacher/painter

- kiedy dorosnę, będę aktorem when I grow up, I’ll be an actor

- być Polakiem/Duńczykiem to be Polish/Danish

- borsuk jest drapieżnikiem the badger is a predator

- nie bądź dzieckiem! don’t be childish a. such a child!

- jestem Anna Kowalska I’m Anna Kowalska

- „cześć, to ty jesteś Robert?” – „nie, jestem Adam” ‘hi, are you Robert? a. you’re Robert, are you?’ – ‘no, I’m Adam’

- co to jest – ma cztery nogi i robi „miau”? what (is it that) has four legs and says ‘miaow’?

- była wysoka/niska she was tall/short

- jest autorką cenioną przez wszystkich she’s an author appreciated by all a. everybody

- mój dziadek był podobno bardzo przystojnym mężczyzną my grandfather is said to have been a very handsome man

- wciąż jest taka, jaką była za młodu she’s still her old self

- kwiaty były żółte i czerwone the flowers were yellow and red

- pizza była całkiem dobra the pizza was quite good

- pojemnik był z drewna/plastiku the container was made of wood/plastic

- z tych listewek byłby ładny latawiec these slats could make a fine kite

- wszystko to były jedynie domysły it was all only conjecture

- czyj jest ten samochód? whose car is this?, who does this car belong to?

- ta książka jest jej/Adama this book is hers/Adam’s, this is her/Adam’s book

- żona była dla niego wszystkim his wife was everything to him

- nie naśladuj innych, bądź sobą don’t imitate others, be yourself

- ta zupa jest zimna this soup is cold

- Maria jest niewidoma Maria is blind

- jesteś głodny? are you hungry?

- Robert jest żonaty/rozwiedziony Robert is married/divorced

- są małżeństwem od dziesięciu lat they’ve been married for ten years

- bądź dla niej miły be nice to her

- bądź tak dobry a. uprzejmy would you mind

- bądź tak miły i otwórz okno would you mind opening the window?

- czy byłaby pani uprzejma podać mi sól would you be kind enough a. would you be so kind as to pass me the salt?

- nie bądź głupi! don’t be a fool!

- cicho bądź! be quiet!

- być w kapeluszu/kaloszach/spodniach to be wearing a hat/rubber boots/trousers

- była w zielonym żakiecie/czarnym berecie she was wearing a green jacket/black beret, she had a green jacket/black beret on

- być za kimś/czymś (opowiadać się) to support sb/sth, to be for sb/sth

- byłem za tym, żeby nikomu nic nie mówić I was for not telling anyone anything

- dwa razy dwa jest cztery two times two is four

- ściany pokoju były pomalowane na różowo the walls of the room were painted pink

- dzieci, które są maltretowane przez rodziców children who are abused by their parents

- tak jest napisane w gazecie that’s what it says in the paper

- samochód będzie naprawiony jutro the car will be repaired by tomorrow

- to musi być zrobione do czwartku this must be done by Thursday

- sukienka była uszyta z czarnej wełenki the dress was made of black wool

- będzie pamiętał a. pamiętać tę scenę przez cały życie he will remember this scene all his life

- będziemy długo go wspominali a. wspominać we shall a. will long remember him

- co by się było stało, gdyby nie jego pomoc what would have happened if it hadn’t been for his help

- byłaby spadła ze schodów (omal nie) she almost fell down the stairs

- byłbym zapomniał! zabierz ze sobą śpiwór I almost a. nearly forgot! take a sleeping bag with you

- jest dopiero wpół do ósmej it’s only half past seven

- nie było co jeść there was nothing to eat

- za ciepło będzie ci w tym swetrze you’ll be too hot in this jumper

- byłoby przyjemnie zjeść razem obiad it would be nice to have lunch together

- wychodzić po zmierzchu było niebezpiecznie it was dangerous going out after dark

- nie kupić tego mieszkania będzie niewybaczalnym błędem not to buy that a. the flat would be an inexcusable mistake

- z chorym było źle/coraz gorzej the patient was bad/getting worse

- z dziadkiem jest nienajlepiej grandfather is poorly

- wszystko będzie na niego he’ll get all the blame

- żeby nie było na mnie I don’t want to get the blame

- na imię było jej Maria her name was Maria

- było dobrze po północy it was well after midnight

- będzie z godzinę/trzy lata temu an hour or so/some three years ago

- będzie kwadrans jak wyszedł he must have left fifteen minutes or so ago, it’s been fifteen minutes or so since he left

- do najbliższego sklepu będzie ze trzy kilometry it’s a good three kilometres to the nearest shop

- nie ma tu gdzie usiąść there’s nowhere here to sit

- w tym mieście na ma dokąd pójść wieczorem there’s nowhere to go at night in this town

- nie ma komu posprzątać/zrobić zakupy there’s no-one to clean/to do shopping

- nie ma z kim się bawić there’s no-one to play with

- trzeba było coś z tym zrobić something had to be done about it

- trzeba było od razu tak mówić why didn’t you say so in the first place?

- czytać można było tylko przy świecach one could read only by candlelight

- jest gorzej niż można było przypuszczać it’s worse than might have been expected

■ bądź zdrów! (pożegnanie) goodbye!, take care!

- być bez forsy/przy forsie pot. to be penniless/flush pot.

- być do niczego (bezużyteczny) [osoba, przedmiot] to be useless a. no good; (chory, słaby) [osoba] to be poorly a. out of sorts

- być może perhaps, maybe

- być może nam się uda perhaps we’ll succeed

- być może a. może być, że… it may happen that…

- być niczym [osoba] to be a nobody

- znałem ją, kiedy jeszcze była nikim I knew her when she was still a nobody

- być przy nadziei a. być w poważnym a. odmiennym a. błogosławionym stanie książk. to be in an interesting condition a. in the family way przest.; to have a bun in the oven euf., pot.

- było nie było (tak czy owak) when all’s said and done, after all; (niech się dzieje co chce) come what may, be that as it may

- było nie było, to już ćwierć wieku od naszego ślubu when all’s said and done a. after all, it’s twenty-five years since we got married

- było nie było, idę pogadać z szefem o podwyżce come what may, I’m going to the boss to talk about a rise

- było siedzieć w domu/nie pożyczać mu pieniędzy pot. serves you right, you should have stayed at home/shouldn’t have lent him money

- było nic mu nie mówić you should have told him nothing

- co będzie, to będzie whatever will be, will be

- co było, to było let bygones be bygones

- co jest? pot. what’s up? pot.

- co jest, do jasnej cholery? dlaczego nikt nie otwiera? what the hell’s going on? – why doesn’t anyone open the door? pot.

- co jest? przyjacielowi paru groszy żałujesz? what’s wrong? – can’t spare a friend a few pence? pot.

- coś w tym jest a. coś w tym musi być there must be something in it

- coś w tym musi być, że wszyscy dyrektorzy będą na tym zebraniu there must be something in it, if all the directors are going to the meeting

- jakoś to będzie things’ll a. it’ll work out somehow pot.

- nie ma co a. rady oh well

- nie ma co, trzeba brać się do roboty oh well, time to do some work

- nie ma co! well, well!

- mieszkanie, nie ma co, widne i ustawne well, well, not a bad flat, airy and well laid out

- ładnie się spisałeś, nie ma co! iron. well, well, you’ve done it now, haven’t you!

- nie ma (to) jak kuchnia domowa/kieliszek zimnej wódki nothing beats a. you can’t beat home cooking/a glass of cold vodka

- nie ma (to) jak muzyka klasyczna give me classical music every time

- nie ma to jak wakacje! there’s nothing like a holiday!

- nie może być! (niedowierzanie) I don’t believe it!, you don’t say!

- niech będzie! oh well!

- niech ci/wam będzie! have it your own way!

- niech mu/jej będzie! let him/her have his/her own way!

- niech tak będzie! (zgoda) so be it!

- tak jest! (owszem) (that’s) right!

- „to jest pańskie ostatnie słowo” – „tak jest, ostatnie” ‘is that your final word?’ – ‘yes, it is’, ‘that’s right’

- tak jest, panie pułkowniku/generale! Wojsk. yes, sir!

- to jest książk. that is, that is to say

- główne gałęzie przemysłu, to jest górnictwo i hutnictwo the main branches of industry, that is (to say) mining and metallurgy

* * *

* * *

jestem jesteś są; będę będziesz bądź

1. (= znajdować się w jakimś stanie l. miejscu) be; (= istnieć) exist, be there; być na diecie be on a diet; być na emeryturze be retired; jestem po robocie I'm finished l. done with work (for today); pewnego razu był sobie król... once upon a time there lived a king...; w ogrodzie były róże there were roses in the garden; w Galaktyce są miliardy gwiazd there are billions of stars in the Galaxy; ile ich jest? how many of them are there?; być w kinie be at the theater; być na wycieczce be on a trip; być w Warszawie be in Warsaw; być u babci na wsi be at grandma's house in the country; być z kimś sam na sam be one on one with sb; od świtu jestem na nogach I have been on my feet all day; Ewa jest na ostatnich nogach Eva is ready to drop l. dead on her feet; jesteś na drodze do zawału you are on the road to a heart attack; wszystko jest na swoim miejscu everything is in its place; to było nie na miejscu that was out of line; być na ustach całego miasteczka be on the lips of everyone in town; być jedną nogą na tamtym świecie have one foot in the grave; co dzisiaj będzie na obiad? what's for supper today?; wszystko jest pod ręką we have everything right at hand; być u steru przen. be at the wheel; no to jestem w domu (= zrozumiałem) that hits home; być w latach l. w leciech be up in one's years; być w sile wieku be in one's prime; być w opałach be in a bind; teraz wszystko jest w twoich rękach now everything is in your hands l. up to you; być w siódmym niebie be in seventh heaven; być w swoim żywiole be in one's element; być na zebraniu be at a meeting; być na wojnie be (fighting) in a war; być na studiach be at college; być na anglistyce be in the English Department; nigdy nie byłem w Chicago I've never been to Chicago; Adam jest pod pantoflem swojej żony Adam is henpecked; być nie w sosie be in a bad mood; jest gaz i woda we have gas and water; jestem takiego samego zdania I'm of the same opinion; jestem dobrej myśli I'm hoping for the best; jest mi u ciebie tak dobrze I feel so good at your place; jest mi głupio I feel stupid; to jest do niczego it's no good; być górą be on top; to nie jest czas po temu this is not the time for that; to nie jest mi na rękę this is inconvenient (for me); to nie jest po mojej myśli that's not what I intended l. what I had in mind; jestem pod wrażeniem I'm impressed; jestem bez pieniędzy I'm broke; jestem w ciąży I'm pregnant; Ewa jest przy nadziei przest. Eva is in the family way; jestem na służbie I'm on duty; byliśmy na spacerze we were taking a walk; dobrze wiesz, że jesteś na mojej łasce you know fully well that you're at my mercy; czy jesteś w stanie mnie zrozumieć? are you able to understand me?; jestem w dobrym humorze I'm in a good mood; byliśmy w kłopocie, co zrobić z... we couldn't figure out what to do with...; Ewa przez moment była w rozterce for a moment Ewa was in a dilemma; Ewa jest z Adamem w przyjaźni Ewa is friends with Adam; po czyjej jesteś stronie? whose side are you on?; Adam jest w porządku Adam is OK l. alright; to nie jest w moim guście that's not my style; jestem na bakier z gramatyką I haven't a clue about grammar; z teściową jestem na złej stopie I'm on bad terms with my mother-in-law; z prezesem jestem na ty I'm on a first name basis with the president; jestem za reformą I'm for the reform; oni są z sobą za pan brat they are on familiar terms; jestem z Ewą po słowie przest. I'm engaged to Eve.

2. ( część orzeczenia imiennego) jestem studentem I am a student; byłam piosenkarką I was a singer; będę generałem I will be a general; ta dziewczyna jest ładna that girl is pretty; samochód jest ojca that's father's car; ten długopis nie jest mój this pen isn't mine; bądź zdrów! get well!; jesteś dla mnie niczym! you mean nothing to me; on nie był sobą he wasn't himself; dwa razy dwa jest cztery two plus two is l. equals four.

3. ( w zdaniach bezosobowych) (= zdarzać się) jest piękny dzień it's a beautiful day; był kwiecień it was April; było to dość dawno it was l. happened quite a long time ago; był do ciebie telefon you had a call; było już późno it was getting late; nie ma co jeść there's nothing to eat; będzie z godzinę temu, jak... it's been an hour since...; a co będzie ze mną? what will happen to me?; ciekaw jestem, co z niego będzie I'm curious (about) what will become of him; jeżeli tak jest if it is so; być może maybe, perhaps; co będzie, to będzie come what may; co było, to było let bygones be bygones; jakoś to (w końcu) będzie thing's will turn out fine (in the end); co ci jest? what's wrong l. the matter with you?; z tej mąki nie będzie chleba it's hopeless; nie może być that's impossible; jest już po nim it's too late for him; he's done for; he's a goner l. a has-been; co było, a nie jest, nie pisze się w rejestr what's done is done; tak jest! exactly!, precisely!, that's right; wojsk. yes, sir!; to jest (= czyli) that is; było nie było whatever happens; no matter what (happens).

czasownik posiłkowy

1. tylko będę będziesz itd. ( w formach czasu przyszłego) will (be); będę pamiętał o tym I'll remember that; dzieci będą w ogrodzie the kids will be in the garden; będziemy śpiewać kolędy we're going to sing carols.

2. ( w formach strony biernej) dom był sprzedany za... the house was sold for...; jesteś obserwowany you are being watched; droga jest już naprawiona the road has been repaired.

SUBJECT AREA: Land transport, Railways and locomotives

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George Stephenson was the son of the fireman of the pumping engine at Wylam colliery, and horses drew wagons of coal along the wooden rails of the Wylam wagonway past the house in which he was born and spent his earliest childhood. While still a child he worked as a cowherd, but soon moved to working at coal pits. At 17 years of age he showed sufficient mechanical talent to be placed in charge of a new pumping engine, and had already achieved a job more responsible than that of his father. Despite his position he was still illiterate, although he subsequently learned to read and write. He was largely self-educated.

In 1801 he was appointed Brakesman of the winding engine at Black Callerton pit, with responsibility for lowering the miners safely to their work. Then, about two years later, he became Brakesman of a new winding engine erected by Robert Hawthorn at Willington Quay on the Tyne. Returning collier brigs discharged ballast into wagons and the engine drew the wagons up an inclined plane to the top of "Ballast Hill" for their contents to be tipped; this was one of the earliest applications of steam power to transport, other than experimentally.

In 1804 Stephenson moved to West Moor pit, Killingworth, again as Brakesman. In 1811 he demonstrated his mechanical skill by successfully modifying a new and unsatisfactory atmospheric engine, a task that had defeated the efforts of others, to enable it to pump a drowned pit clear of water. The following year he was appointed Enginewright at Killingworth, in charge of the machinery in all the collieries of the "Grand Allies", the prominent coal-owning families of Wortley, Liddell and Bowes, with authorization also to work for others. He built many stationary engines and he closely examined locomotives of John Blenkinsop's type on the Kenton \& Coxlodge wagonway, as well as those of William Hedley at Wylam.

It was in 1813 that Sir Thomas Liddell requested George Stephenson to build a steam locomotive for the Killingworth wagonway: Blucher made its first trial run on 25 July 1814 and was based on Blenkinsop's locomotives, although it lacked their rack-and-pinion drive. George Stephenson is credited with building the first locomotive both to run on edge rails and be driven by adhesion, an arrangement that has been the conventional one ever since. Yet Blucher was far from perfect and over the next few years, while other engineers ignored the steam locomotive, Stephenson built a succession of them, each an improvement on the last.

During this period many lives were lost in coalmines from explosions of gas ignited by miners' lamps. By observation and experiment (sometimes at great personal risk) Stephenson invented a satisfactory safety lamp, working independently of the noted scientist Sir Humphry Davy who also invented such a lamp around the same time.

In 1817 George Stephenson designed his first locomotive for an outside customer, the Kilmarnock \& Troon Railway, and in 1819 he laid out the Hetton Colliery Railway in County Durham, for which his brother Robert was Resident Engineer. This was the first railway to be worked entirely without animal traction: it used inclined planes with stationary engines, self-acting inclined planes powered by gravity, and locomotives.

On 19 April 1821 Stephenson was introduced to Edward Pease, one of the main promoters of the Stockton \& Darlington Railway (S \& DR), which by coincidence received its Act of Parliament the same day. George Stephenson carried out a further survey, to improve the proposed line, and in this he was assisted by his 18-year-old son, Robert Stephenson, whom he had ensured received the theoretical education which he himself lacked. It is doubtful whether either could have succeeded without the other; together they were to make the steam railway practicable.

At George Stephenson's instance, much of the S \& DR was laid with wrought-iron rails recently developed by John Birkinshaw at Bedlington Ironworks, Morpeth. These were longer than cast-iron rails and were not brittle: they made a track well suited for locomotives. In June 1823 George and Robert Stephenson, with other partners, founded a firm in Newcastle upon Tyne to build locomotives and rolling stock and to do general engineering work: after its Managing Partner, the firm was called Robert Stephenson \& Co.

In 1824 the promoters of the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway (L \& MR) invited George Stephenson to resurvey their proposed line in order to reduce opposition to it. William James, a wealthy land agent who had become a visionary protagonist of a national railway network and had seen Stephenson's locomotives at Killingworth, had promoted the L \& MR with some merchants of Liverpool and had carried out the first survey; however, he overreached himself in business and, shortly after the invitation to Stephenson, became bankrupt. In his own survey, however, George Stephenson lacked the assistance of his son Robert, who had left for South America, and he delegated much of the detailed work to incompetent assistants. During a devastating Parliamentary examination in the spring of 1825, much of his survey was shown to be seriously inaccurate and the L \& MR's application for an Act of Parliament was refused. The railway's promoters discharged Stephenson and had their line surveyed yet again, by C.B. Vignoles.

The Stockton \& Darlington Railway was, however, triumphantly opened in the presence of vast crowds in September 1825, with Stephenson himself driving the locomotive Locomotion, which had been built at Robert Stephenson \& Co.'s Newcastle works. Once the railway was at work, horse-drawn and gravity-powered traffic shared the line with locomotives: in 1828 Stephenson invented the horse dandy, a wagon at the back of a train in which a horse could travel over the gravity-operated stretches, instead of trotting behind.

Meanwhile, in May 1826, the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway had successfully obtained its Act of Parliament. Stephenson was appointed Engineer in June, and since he and Vignoles proved incompatible the latter left early in 1827. The railway was built by Stephenson and his staff, using direct labour. A considerable controversy arose c. 1828 over the motive power to be used: the traffic anticipated was too great for horses, but the performance of the reciprocal system of cable haulage developed by Benjamin Thompson appeared in many respects superior to that of contemporary locomotives. The company instituted a prize competition for a better locomotive and the Rainhill Trials were held in October 1829.

Robert Stephenson had been working on improved locomotive designs since his return from America in 1827, but it was the L \& MR's Treasurer, Henry Booth, who suggested the multi-tubular boiler to George Stephenson. This was incorporated into a locomotive built by Robert Stephenson for the trials: Rocket was entered by the three men in partnership. The other principal entrants were Novelty, entered by John Braithwaite and John Ericsson, and Sans Pareil, entered by Timothy Hackworth, but only Rocket, driven by George Stephenson, met all the organizers' demands; indeed, it far surpassed them and demonstrated the practicability of the long-distance steam railway. With the opening of the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway in 1830, the age of railways began.

Stephenson was active in many aspects. He advised on the construction of the Belgian State Railway, of which the Brussels-Malines section, opened in 1835, was the first all-steam railway on the European continent. In England, proposals to link the L \& MR with the Midlands had culminated in an Act of Parliament for the Grand Junction Railway in 1833: this was to run from Warrington, which was already linked to the L \& MR, to Birmingham. George Stephenson had been in charge of the surveys, and for the railway's construction he and J.U. Rastrick were initially Principal Engineers, with Stephenson's former pupil Joseph Locke under them; by 1835 both Stephenson and Rastrick had withdrawn and Locke was Engineer-in-Chief. Stephenson remained much in demand elsewhere: he was particularly associated with the construction of the North Midland Railway (Derby to Leeds) and related lines. He was active in many other places and carried out, for instance, preliminary surveys for the Chester \& Holyhead and Newcastle \& Berwick Railways, which were important links in the lines of communication between London and, respectively, Dublin and Edinburgh.

He eventually retired to Tapton House, Chesterfield, overlooking the North Midland. A man who was self-made (with great success) against colossal odds, he was ever reluctant, regrettably, to give others their due credit, although in retirement, immensely wealthy and full of honour, he was still able to mingle with people of all ranks.

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SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building, Automotive engineering, Electricity, Electronics and information technology, Metallurgy, Photography, film and optics, Public utilities, Recording, Telecommunications

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He was the son of Samuel Edison, who was in the timber business. His schooling was delayed due to scarlet fever until 1855, when he was 8½ years old, but he was an avid reader. By the age of 14 he had a job as a newsboy on the railway from Port Huron to Detroit, a distance of sixty-three miles (101 km). He worked a fourteen-hour day with a stopover of five hours, which he spent in the Detroit Free Library. He also sold sweets on the train and, later, fruit and vegetables, and was soon making a profit of $20 a week. He then started two stores in Port Huron and used a spare freight car as a laboratory. He added a hand-printing press to produce 400 copies weekly of The Grand Trunk Herald, most of which he compiled and edited himself. He set himself to learn telegraphy from the station agent at Mount Clements, whose son he had saved from being run over by a freight car.

At the age of 16 he became a telegraphist at Port Huron. In 1863 he became railway telegraphist at the busy Stratford Junction of the Grand Trunk Railroad, arranging a clock with a notched wheel to give the hourly signal which was to prove that he was awake and at his post! He left hurriedly after failing to hold a train which was nearly involved in a head-on collision. He usually worked the night shift, allowing himself time for experiments during the day. His first invention was an arrangement of two Morse registers so that a high-speed input could be decoded at a slower speed. Moving from place to place he held many positions as a telegraphist. In Boston he invented an automatic vote recorder for Congress and patented it, but the idea was rejected. This was the first of a total of 1180 patents that he was to take out during his lifetime. After six years he resigned from the Western Union Company to devote all his time to invention, his next idea being an improved ticker-tape machine for stockbrokers. He developed a duplex telegraphy system, but this was turned down by the Western Union Company. He then moved to New York.

Edison found accommodation in the battery room of Law's Gold Reporting Company, sleeping in the cellar, and there his repair of a broken transmitter marked him as someone of special talents. His superior soon resigned, and he was promoted with a salary of $300 a month. Western Union paid him $40,000 for the sole rights on future improvements on the duplex telegraph, and he moved to Ward Street, Newark, New Jersey, where he employed a gathering of specialist engineers. Within a year, he married one of his employees, Mary Stilwell, when she was only 16: a daughter, Marion, was born in 1872, and two sons, Thomas and William, in 1876 and 1879, respectively.

He continued to work on the automatic telegraph, a device to send out messages faster than they could be tapped out by hand: that is, over fifty words per minute or so. An earlier machine by Alexander Bain worked at up to 400 words per minute, but was not good over long distances. Edison agreed to work on improving this feature of Bain's machine for the Automatic Telegraph Company (ATC) for $40,000. He improved it to a working speed of 500 words per minute and ran a test between Washington and New York. Hoping to sell their equipment to the Post Office in Britain, ATC sent Edison to England in 1873 to negotiate. A 500-word message was to be sent from Liverpool to London every half-hour for six hours, followed by tests on 2,200 miles (3,540 km) of cable at Greenwich. Only confused results were obtained due to induction in the cable, which lay coiled in a water tank. Edison returned to New York, where he worked on his quadruplex telegraph system, tests of which proved a success between New York and Albany in December 1874. Unfortunately, simultaneous negotiation with Western Union and ATC resulted in a lawsuit.

Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for a telephone in March 1876 while Edison was still working on the same idea. His improvements allowed the device to operate over a distance of hundreds of miles instead of only a few miles. Tests were carried out over the 106 miles (170 km) between New York and Philadelphia. Edison applied for a patent on the carbon-button transmitter in April 1877, Western Union agreeing to pay him $6,000 a year for the seventeen-year duration of the patent. In these years he was also working on the development of the electric lamp and on a duplicating machine which would make up to 3,000 copies from a stencil. In 1876–7 he moved from Newark to Menlo Park, twenty-four miles (39 km) from New York on the Pennsylvania Railway, near Elizabeth. He had bought a house there around which he built the premises that would become his "inventions factory". It was there that he began the use of his 200- page pocket notebooks, each of which lasted him about two weeks, so prolific were his ideas. When he died he left 3,400 of them filled with notes and sketches.

Late in 1877 he applied for a patent for a phonograph which was granted on 19 February 1878, and by the end of the year he had formed a company to manufacture this totally new product. At the time, Edison saw the device primarily as a business aid rather than for entertainment, rather as a dictating machine. In August 1878 he was granted a British patent. In July 1878 he tried to measure the heat from the solar corona at a solar eclipse viewed from Rawlins, Wyoming, but his "tasimeter" was too sensitive.

Probably his greatest achievement was "The Subdivision of the Electric Light" or the "glow bulb". He tried many materials for the filament before settling on carbon. He gave a demonstration of electric light by lighting up Menlo Park and inviting the public. Edison was, of course, faced with the problem of inventing and producing all the ancillaries which go to make up the electrical system of generation and distribution-meters, fuses, insulation, switches, cabling—even generators had to be designed and built; everything was new. He started a number of manufacturing companies to produce the various components needed.

In 1881 he built the world's largest generator, which weighed 27 tons, to light 1,200 lamps at the Paris Exhibition. It was later moved to England to be used in the world's first central power station with steam engine drive at Holborn Viaduct, London. In September 1882 he started up his Pearl Street Generating Station in New York, which led to a worldwide increase in the application of electric power, particularly for lighting. At the same time as these developments, he built a 1,300yd (1,190m) electric railway at Menlo Park.

On 9 August 1884 his wife died of typhoid. Using his telegraphic skills, he proposed to 19-year-old Mina Miller in Morse code while in the company of others on a train. He married her in February 1885 before buying a new house and estate at West Orange, New Jersey, building a new laboratory not far away in the Orange Valley.

Edison used direct current which was limited to around 250 volts. Alternating current was largely developed by George Westinghouse and Nicola Tesla, using transformers to step up the current to a higher voltage for long-distance transmission. The use of AC gradually overtook the Edison DC system.

In autumn 1888 he patented a form of cinephotography, the kinetoscope, obtaining film-stock from George Eastman. In 1893 he set up the first film studio, which was pivoted so as to catch the sun, with a hinged roof which could be raised. In 1894 kinetoscope parlours with "peep shows" were starting up in cities all over America. Competition came from the Latham Brothers with a screen-projection machine, which Edison answered with his "Vitascope", shown in New York in 1896. This showed pictures with accompanying sound, but there was some difficulty with synchronization. Edison also experimented with captions at this early date.

In 1880 he filed a patent for a magnetic ore separator, the first of nearly sixty. He bought up deposits of low-grade iron ore which had been developed in the north of New Jersey. The process was a commercial success until the discovery of iron-rich ore in Minnesota rendered it uneconomic and uncompetitive. In 1898 cement rock was discovered in New Village, west of West Orange. Edison bought the land and started cement manufacture, using kilns twice the normal length and using half as much fuel to heat them as the normal type of kiln. In 1893 he met Henry Ford, who was building his second car, at an Edison convention. This started him on the development of a battery for an electric car on which he made over 9,000 experiments. In 1903 he sold his patent for wireless telegraphy "for a song" to Guglielmo Marconi.

In 1910 Edison designed a prefabricated concrete house. In December 1914 fire destroyed three-quarters of the West Orange plant, but it was at once rebuilt, and with the threat of war Edison started to set up his own plants for making all the chemicals that he had previously been buying from Europe, such as carbolic acid, phenol, benzol, aniline dyes, etc. He was appointed President of the Navy Consulting Board, for whom, he said, he made some forty-five inventions, "but they were pigeonholed, every one of them". Thus did Edison find that the Navy did not take kindly to civilian interference.

In 1927 he started the Edison Botanic Research Company, founded with similar investment from Ford and Firestone with the object of finding a substitute for overseas-produced rubber. In the first year he tested no fewer than 3,327 possible plants, in the second year, over 1,400, eventually developing a variety of Golden Rod which grew to 14 ft (4.3 m) in height. However, all this effort and money was wasted, due to the discovery of synthetic rubber.

In October 1929 he was present at Henry Ford's opening of his Dearborn Museum to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the incandescent lamp, including a replica of the Menlo Park laboratory. He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and was elected to the American Academy of Sciences. He died in 1931 at his home, Glenmont; throughout the USA, lights were dimmed temporarily on the day of his funeral.

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SUBJECT AREA: Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering

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James Nasmyth was the youngest son of Alexander Nasmyth (1758–1840), the portrait and landscape painter. According to his autobiography he was named James Hall after his father's friend, the geologist Sir James Hall (1761–1832), but he seems never to have used his second name in official documents. He received an elementary education at Edinburgh High School, but left at the age of 12. He attended evening classes at the Edinburgh School of Arts for the instruction of Mechanics between 1821 and 1825, and gained experience as a mechanic at an early age in his father's workshop. He shared these early experiences with his brother George, who was only a year or so older, and in the 1820s the brothers built several model steam engines and a steam-carriage capable of carrying eight passengers on the public roads. In 1829 Nasmyth obtained a position in London as personal assistant to Henry Maudslay, and after Maudslay's death in February 1831 he remained with Maudslay's partner, Joshua Field, for a short time. He then returned to Edinburgh, where he and his brother George started in a small way as general engineers. In 1834 they moved to a small workshop in Manchester, and in 1836, with the aid of financial backing from some Manchester businessmen, they established on a site at Patricroft, a few miles from the city, the works which became known as the Bridgewater Foundry. They were soon joined by a third partner, Holbrook Gaskell (1813–1909), who looked after the administration of the business, the firm then being known as Nasmyths Gaskell \& Co. They specialized in making machine tools, and Nasmyth invented many improvements so that they soon became one of the leading manufacturers in this field. They also made steam locomotives for the rapidly developing railways. James Nasmyth's best-known invention was the steam-hammer, which dates from 1839 but was not patented until 1842. The self-acting control gear was probably the work of Robert Wilson and ensured the commercial success of the invention. George Nasmyth resigned from the partnership in 1843 and in 1850 Gaskell also resigned, after which the firm continued as James Nasmyth \& Co. James Nasmyth himself retired at the end of 1856 and went to live at Penshurst, Kent, in a house which he named "Hammerfield" where he devoted his time mainly to his hobby of astronomy. Robert Wilson returned to become Managing Partner of the firm, which later became Nasmyth, Wilson \& Co. and retained that style until its closure in 1940. Nasmyth's claim to be the sole inventor of the steam-hammer has been disputed, but his patent of 1842 was not challenged and the fourteen-year monopoly ensured the prosperity of the business so that he was able to retire at the age of 48. At his death in 1890 he left an estate valued at £243,805.

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