Rudolf Diesel
Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913), German engineer, born in Paris, who invented the diesel engine. Such engines burn heavy oil mixed with air that is heated to the ignition temperature of the oil by compression. Diesel completed the first working model in 1893, although this exploded and nearly killed him. In 1897, after further work on the design, he produced a single-cylinder internal-combustion engine that proved very successful and is now used in road, rail, and marine transport. In 1913 Diesel disappeared on a Channel crossing and his body was never found.
