Andrei Sakharov with his granddaughter Anya, in the 1970s. (Library of Congress)

In the study of seventeenth-century life, mystery often pervades the lives and deaths of even the most famous people and Thomas Savery is no exception. There is no record of his birth in local registers, but it is believed that he was born near Plymouth in Shilston, England, around 1650. There is no known portrait of him available today, although there was purportedly a drawing of him in a reprint of A Miner's Friend, published in 1827. After 1700 he became known as Captain Savery, with little evidence as to why, although he had done service as a military engineer, working as a Trench Master in 1696. According to folklore, many who were placed in charge during that era were likely to be called "Captain."

What isknown is that Savery is sometimes left out of listings...