In 1673, Papin worked with Christiaan Huygens and Gottfried Leibniz in Paris, and became interested in using a vacuum to generate motive power.

As a Huguenot, Papin found himself greatly affected by the increasing restrictions placed on Protestants by Louis XIV of France and by the King's ultimate revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

In 1689, Papin suggested that a force pump or bellows could maintain the pressure and fresh air inside a diving bell.

[7][8]) While in Marburg in 1690, having observed the mechanical power of atmospheric pressure on his 'digester', Papin built a model of a piston steam engine, the first of its kind.

[11] The scene of boatmen destroying Papin's ship is depicted in several pieces of art in the eighteenth century and serves as an example of the resistance and fear inspired by the creative destruction that accompanies new technology.

Since the discovery, in 2016, of the place and date of Papin's burial in 1713, a memorial plaque has been erected in the West Entrance of St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, London, to commemorate his life and his achievements.

Hessische Heimat, Zeitschrift für Kunst, Kultur und Denkmalpflege [Hessian homeland] (in German) (1/2 ed.).