Irving Wightman Colburn is a person who lived a long time ago and did some important things that helped make some things we use today. He was born in 1861 and grew up in a place called Ohio. When he was older, he went to school to learn about something called metallurgy, which has to do with studying how to make things out of metals like steel.
Colburn worked hard to become an expert in his field, and he eventually became a professor at a school called the University of Illinois. While he was there, he figured out a way to make a new kind of metal that was much stronger and better than anything that had been made before. This metal was called "Colburn steel" and was used to make things like airplane parts and engines.
But Colburn's work didn't stop there. He also invented a special kind of microscope that could see very small things that other microscopes couldn't see. This was called a "Colburn microscope" and was used by scientists and engineers to help them study things that were too small to see with their own eyes.
Overall, Irving Wightman Colburn was a very smart person who made important contributions to the world of science and engineering. His work helped make things stronger, safer, and more efficient, and we still use some of the things he invented and discovered today.