Jacob Leupold

Jacob Leupold (1674 to 1727) was a German physicist, mathematician, instrument maker, mining commissioner and engineer. He built many instruments for experimental physics, designed his first air pump in 1705 and published Antlia pneumatica illustrata in 1707, and the Prussian Academy of Sciences acquired his pump in 1711. In 1720 he began the manuscript of Theatrum Machinarum, the first systematic analysis of mechanical engineering, published in ten illustrated volumes in Leipzig between 1724 and 1739. It included, ahead of its time, a design for a high-pressure non-condensing steam engine, the likes of which were not built until the early 19th century.