Fulton, Robert

an American engineer, born in Pennsylvania; began life as a miniature portrait and landscape painter, in which he made some progre , but soon turned to engineering; he was one of the first to apply steam to the propulsion of ve els, and devoted much attention to the invention of submarine boats and torpedoes; he built a steamboat to navigate the Hudson River, with a very slow rate of progre however, making only five miles an hour (1615-1765).