Robert Fulton grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania in the 1760s. In his late teens, he went to Philadelphia to become a jeweler and study art. No one knows how his parents felt about that decision, yet Benjamin West, a well-known British painter, thought Fulton talented enough to take him as a student.

While studying painting in England, Fulton became fascinated with technology. He began inventing dredging machines, advanced spinning wheels, rope-making devices, and canal locks. He even asked the French government in 1797 to consider building a submarine!

Eventually, Fulton joined a British inventor who was experimenting with steam engines. One thing led to another, and Fulton found himself back in the United States helping to pilot his steamship, the Clermont, up the Hudson River in 1807. Even though people called his steamship, "Fulton's Folly," in 1814 he built the first steam-powered warship for the United States government. He died in New York City in 1815.