Auguste Mouchout
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Auguste Mouchout was a 19th century French inventor of the earliest solar-powered engine, converting solar energy into mechanical steam power.
He supported the idea of finding new alternative energy sources, as the resources of coal which fueled the Industrial Revolution would eventually end. Initially, his experiments involved a cauldron filled with water enclosed in glass, which would be put in the sun and boiled the water, producing steam, which was used for operating a small steam engine. The emperor Napoleon III was impressed by this device and gave him financial assistance for further developing his invention.
Mouchout used his funding to continue his research, increasing the size and power of the device. However, as France renogociated some better deals for importing coal from England and developed a new transportation system for coal delivery, coal became much cheaper in France and Mouchout's invention was no longer deemed important and he lost his funding.
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