Monturiols Dream

Monturiol was not your usual submarine inventor. In 1856, when he first announced his underwater plans, he was already 37 yrs old, and his resume was not promising. He had published a number of journals, all of which were now banned; he had helped to organise a radical political party, most of whose members were now in jail or exile; and he was currently wanted by the police. When the money ran low he took up portrait painting to make ends meet. Although time would eventually prove that his technologial genius was in the global class, at the outset of his project he could offer no formal credentials in science of any sort. He taught himself everything he knew.
404 pages HB