A closer look
Nothing fuels innovation quite like a cash prize and a healthy dose of cutthroat capitalism. In 1829, the Rainhill Trials offered £500 to anyone who could build a locomotive that didn't immediately explode or obliterate the tracks. The strict weight limits and speed quotas forced Robert Stephenson to slap a multi-tubular boiler onto his entry, the Rocket. He won the cash, and in doing so, accidentally created the mandatory engineering blueprint for literally every steam locomotive built for the next century.
