Sir Henry Bessemer, British inventor and engineer, 1880

Sir Henry Bessemer, British inventor and engineer, 1880. Chromolithograph by Leslie Ward, (better known as 'Spy') of Sir Henry Bessemer (1813-1898). In 1856, in response to demand for stronger cannon able to fire a new type of artillery shell in the Crimean War, he invented the Bessemer process, enabling molten pig-iron to be turned into steel by a blowing air through it in a tilting converter. This was the first process that could produce large amounts of good quality steel cheaply. In 1859 Bessemer established a steelworks in Sheffield, initially specialising in the manufacture of guns, and later in rails for the rapidly expanding railway network. From the magazine 'Vanity Fair'. Dimensions: 400mm x 270mm. ©SSPL/Science Museum