The man we’ll be talking about is famous for the invention of the engine that conquered the whole world. Each time we hear the word “diesel” we always associate it with a machine, and never a name. The name of a man who was as happy as he was unfortunate…

Rudolf Diesel was born in Paris in 1858 his poor clothes being the only thing than made him stand out from among his peers.  He loved Paris and knew all its ins and outs because his father, a book binder, used to send him out to deliver books to every imaginable part of the city.  The Diesels lived just like thousands of other Parisian families working hard today to eat tomorrow. And, just like everybody else, they spent their weekends in the Vincennes Forest, pleasure boating and snacking on the grass.  No one then seemed to care about the fact that Rudolf’s father was German and his children were Germans too. 

Not before the Franco-German war broke out in 1870.  No longer able to live in Paris, the family moved to London. Several months later father talked the young Rudolf into leaving the struggling family and to go to live with his uncle in Augsburg, Germany. Left without, if not the material, but moral support of his family, the 13-year-old Rudolf only gained from the separation, getting independent and disciplined. And also pedantic, exacting, stubborn and, at the same time, very modest. And hardworking too…

With a character like that Rudolf Diesel had few if any friends and it was probably his loneliness that encouraged him to make it to the top of his class where he impressed a visiting professor and was invited to enroll in Munich Polytechnic. An encounter with Professor Karl von Linde, the man who invented the refrigerator, turned Rudolf’s life all around. Von Linde’s lectures about the thermodynamic cycle of the great Sadie Carnot, the amazing process that promised to harness 70 percent of the fuel’s thermal energy inspired the young man who got immediately hooked on the idea of developing a completely new type of engine…

To make his dream come true, however, Rudolf desperately needed money for experimental work but money was hard to find. At times he despaired and was about to call it quits finding solace in the music of his much-loved Richard Wagner.  He kept working hard though, rising very early and taking a nap after dinner thus dividing the day in two. In 1893 Diesel built an experimental model of his new engine and was almost killed when the unit exploded during the very first test run. Six month later he tried again and this time the engine worked! That was the beginning of the diesel engine. In a letter to his family in Munich Diesel wrote:

“My idea is so much ahead of anything in its field, that it is safe to assume that I’m the first in this novel and all-important field of technology on this small planet of ours! I’m moving well ahead of the best minds in this field on both sides of the ocean!” 

His onetime diffidence was gone now replaced by all-consuming vanity of an up and coming young engineer. The 34-year-old Doctor of Technology was craving fame and money now and quickly proved that on top of his exceptional engineering abilities he was definitely no slouch where it came to business matters. Before long Diesel enlisted the support of such big name sponsors as the Krupp plants in Essen and a machine tool making factory in Augsburg. 

After the successful testing of his new engine, Rudolf Diesel was literally showered with money. Besides Krupp and Augsburg, leading German, Swiss and Belgian companies all applied for a patent for his invention. Adolphus Busch of the Budweiser fame paid a hefty one million German marks for a license to build Diesel engines in the United States. “The specials qualities of my engine put is way ahead of all existing auto engines we know of,” enthused Rudolf Diesel, now a millionaire. Auto manufacturers started buying patents to manufacture Diesel engines for their cars and trucks putting several more millions into Diesel’s pocket. The lifetime dream of the scion of a struggling Parisian craftsman had finally come true... He was on top of the world now, famous and rich enough to fork up 900,000 marks to build a plush mansion. But, the most surprising part of the whole story was that not a single Diesel engine had yet been sold! When the sales began the quality of many of the Diesel engines proved less than perfect requiring additional updating. And still, r Diesel’s engine bowed out with the Grand Prix of the International Exhibition in Paris. 

On September 29, 1913 Rudolf Diesel boarded British-bound steamship Dresden at Zeerbrugge, Belgium. He was in a good mood, cracking jokes and being all smiles and laughs. At 10 p.m. he retired into his cabin and was never seen alive again. In the morning they found in his cabin an untouched bed and a gold watch he never parted with. Two days later fishermen in the mouth of the Schelde River found the body of a well-dressed man. As it was usual at that time, the seamen only took off the man’s belongings (identified later by Diesel’s sons) and threw the body back into the sea. That was the end of Rudolf Diesel. But certainly not of the engine he invented…