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Rudolf Diesel And The Invention Of The Diesel Engine

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Rudolf Diesel is an infamous German innovator, mainly known for the invention of the Diesel engine, which was named after him. However, Rudolf was not actually born in Germany but in Paris, France on March 18th, 1858 and was the second of three children. His parents emigrated from Bavaria to become leather goods manufacturers; their drive and creativity would ultimately spark Rudolf’s passion for inventing. The Diesel family was forced to move out of Paris due to the Franco-Prussian war in 1870. While the Diesel family settled in England, Rudolf’s parents figured it would be best to send Rudolf to Germany with his aunt and uncle so he could attend a private school where his uncle taught mathematics. Rudolf demonstrated an inquisitive nature and thirst for knowledge from an early age, however his parents did not encourage this. They would much rather see Rudolf dive into the work force rather than pursuing an education. After finishing his basic education at the top of the class, Rudolf applied and was accepted into the Industrial School of Augsburg with a scholarship (Bellis, 2015).

After graduating in 1880 and with a few years of work experience under his belt, he began to develop a steam engine using ammonia vapour. The results of this experiment were disastrous as during testing the engine exploded and nearly killed him. In 1893, Rudolf published a paper with designs of an engine based on the Carnot cycle; this created the foundation for the Diesel engine. Throughout

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