User blog comment:David Rain/Steampunk in space/@comment-4206034-20131021161549/@comment-32656-20131025150645

Electricity has been known since ancient times. So, already discovered.

What you need is for it to just stop - and if steam is bigger, ala~ steampunk, not impossible.

Without electro-magnets - which are impossible without a lot of electricity - not possible to have enough magnetism for that.