Rudolf DieselBorn 18 Mar 1858; died 29 Sep 1913 at age 55.Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel was a German engineer who invented the internal-combustion engine that bears his name. After studying the four-stroke internal combustion engines developed by Nikolaus Otto, Diesel conceived of an engine that would approach the thermodynamic limit established by Sadi Carnot in 1824. If the fuel in a cylinder could be expanded at constant pressure, it could get closer to Carnot's limit. He patented the concept in 1892, while working at the firm of the refrigeration engineer Carl von Linde in Berlin. After boarding an English Channel steamer, he was found dead in the sea. It was most likely suicide resulting from depression, after having lost control over his invention and after receiving a great deal of criticism in the German engineering journals for his theories.[EB gives date of death 29 Sep 1913. Diesel's unwitnessed presumed suicide at sea leaves the exact date of death uncertain, and some sources give 30 Sep 1913, by which time he was known to be missing from those on board the steamer.] |
