ROENTGEN, GERHARD MORITZ

(1795–1852)

Dutch navaloffi cer and engineer of German origin. Roentgen studied English ship building and was an advisor to the Dutch government. Dutch and Belgian shipbuilding was modernized based on his reports. Himself a creative engineer (he invented the compound steam engine), he worked together with Robert Cockerill in Seraing, Belgium. Roent gen founded the Netherlands Steamboat Company in 1823 and the Feyenoord shipyard in Rotterdam.