Robert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor born in 1765 who is known for developing the first commercial steamboat. He became interested in steamboats at age 12 after visiting someone who had studied James Watt's steam engine. Fulton went on to design his first steamboat in 1807, launching it on the Hudson River and proving that steamboats could be economically viable. However, the costs of steamboat travel eventually fell which led some companies into bankruptcy, and Fulton himself died of pleurisy in 1815 at the age of 49.