March 18, 1858 – Rudolf Diesel is born
On this day in 1858 Rudolf Diesel, would later patent the type of engine by the same name, was born. In 1870, at the age of 12, Diesel and his family fled Paris for London due to the Franco-Prussian war. Before the conflict ended Rudolph’s parents sent him to stay with an aunt and uncle in Augsburg. There he became fluent in German and developed an interest in math while watching his uncle teach it. Rudolph remained in Augsburg following the conflict to study engineering. He later landed a scholarship to the Royal Bavarian Polytechnic of Munich.
After graduating in January of 1880 with the highest educational honors in his class, Rudolph moved to Paris to work for his former professor, Carl von Linde. The pair designed and constructed an ice and refrigeration plant, of which Diesel...