Joseph Marie Jacquard

Inventor of the earliest programmable loom, Jacquard transformed weaving with his automatic patterned-silk loom, though his early inventions operated poorly and were largely unsuccessful.

In 1801, Jacquard exhibited his invention at the industrial exhibition in Paris, and in 1803 he was summoned to Paris and attached to the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers. A loom by Jacques de Vaucanson on display there suggested various improvements in his own, which he gradually perfected to its final state.

Although his invention was fiercely opposed by the silk-weavers, who feared that its introduction, owing to the saving of labour, would deprive them of their livelihood, its advantages secured its general adoption, and by 1812 there were 11,000 Jacquard looms in use in France. The loom was declared public property in 1806, and Jacquard was rewarded with a pension and a royalty on each machine.