Rudolf Diesel

Born in Paris on March 18, 1858, Rudolf Diesel became a mechanical engineer and inventor whose name is now attached to both the diesel engine and diesel fuel. He studied engineering in Germany and built his career around one big goal: designing an engine that used fuel far more efficiently than the steam engines common in his day.

That idea led to the engine that made him famous. Diesel developed and patented a new kind of internal-combustion engine that relied on compression rather than a spark to ignite fuel. His work helped shape modern transport, industry, and power generation, and his engine design had a lasting global impact.

Diesel died in 1913 after disappearing from a ship while traveling across the English Channel. Because of that unresolved ending, his life is remembered not only for a major engineering breakthrough, but also for one of the era’s enduring historical mysteries.