Rudolf Diesel
Diesel was born in 1858 to German parents who were living in Paris. Young Rudolf had to work his father’s workshop to coup with financial difficulties they were facing. During his school he was very ardent student and in the year 1870 Rudolf was only 12 years old. When he received his Société pour l’Instruction Elémentaire bronze medal. But unfortunately due to breakout of the franco-prussian war, his family was deported and they settled in England. There he attended English speaking school but after short time his parents sent him away to live with his uncle and aunt in Ausberg, Germany.
At the age of 14 he decided to become engineer, so after finishing his school in Ausberg, he attended the newly found school(engineering) in Ausberg and graduated in 1880 with highest academic honors and returned to Paris to work in professors firm, Linde, in the same year he graduated. During his time in Linde, he developed modern refrigeration and ice plant and numerous patent in both France and Germany.
In the year 1890 he moved to Berlin with his family and became obsess with developing internal combustion engine that would approach theoretical efficiency of the carnote cycle. For time he experimented with steam engine using ammonia vapor that nearly killed him during testing.
Later he move to a new post at his professors firm, Linde, in Berlin where he developed the idea for a Diesel engine. Upon gaining patent in 1982 he published his treaties for a diesel engine with the help of Maschinenfabrik Augsburg and Krupp firm, he developed successful models. The first successful diesel engine ( Motor 250/400 ) tested in 1897. The high efficiency of the diesel engine and its simple design, became a massive success and made Rudolf a rich man
However, he became a mystery after he disappeared from a ship (Dresden) while on his way to meet with a diesel manufacturing company in London. Although there are many theories about his death most widely held one is that he drowned in the ocean.
Source – Wikipedia