a surgeon, chemist, lecturer, consultant, architect, builder and prototypical British gentleman scientist and inventor, of the Victorian era. Amongst many accomplishments, he developed the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe, and later applied its principles to a novel form of illumination, the Bude light; developed a series of early steam-powered road vehicles; and laid claim—still discussed and disputed today—to the blastpipe, a key component in the success of steam locomotives, engines, and other coal-fired systems.
