Fulton, Robert (1765-1815), the earliest builder of a successful steamboat. He was a native of Pennsylvania. In 1786 he went to England to study portrait painting. After a few years he turned his attention to engineering and inventions. He acquainted himself with the latest attempts at steam navigation in England and France. He is credited with the invention of the torpedo, which he vainly endeavored to bring to the attention of Napoleon. In 1806 he returned to America full of his new ideas, and began experimenting in the application of steam to the propelling of boats. In 1807 his steamboat, the Clermont, made the trip successfully from New York to Albany, and ran with regularity for some time thereafter on the Hudson River. This was the beginning of permanent steamboat navigation on the rivers of the United States. See STEAMBOAT; FITCH; HUDSON.