Rudolph Diesel was a German engineer who in 1892 created the diesel engine, a type of internal
combustion engine. He was born on the 18th of March, 1858 in Paris. Rudolph was born into a
poor family and was surrounded by poverty almost all of his life, making for a very unhappy
childhood.
Diesel started his education in Paris where he was an excellent student. He enjoyed art and spent
a lot of his time in the museum of arts and crafts. The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War forced
him and his family to leave Paris and go to London. Rudolph was enrolled in a London school to
continue his education. He was most impressed by the British Museum and the South Kensington
Museum's exhibits of science and engineering.
Rudolph's aunt, Betty Barnickel, heard of their family's misfortune and offered to take in Rudolph
into their home in Augsburg in Rotterdam. Betty Barnickle was married to Cristoph Barnickel, he
was a professor at the Augsburg's Royal District Trade School and they lived in a modest, warm
home. After studying three years in Augsburg, Rudolph decided to become an engineer.
When the war ended, Diesel moved back to Paris with his family. But shortly later moving back
to Paris, Rudolph's sister died and a decision was made for him to move back to live with his aunt
and uncle in Augsburg. In 1883, Rudolph was enrolled in the mechanical engineering program,
and he excelled in it, graduating as the youngest student with the highest marks ever. He was
awarded a scholarship to Munchen Polytechnic in Germany. After several years of living in
Munich, Diesel was granted German citizenship.
In January 1880, Rudolph joined the Sulzer Engine Works in Winterthur, Switzerland to begin his
apprenticeship building refrigeration and steam engines. Rudolph began to think there must have
been a better way to use the energy from the fuel that the most efficient steam plant used. At the
time, 90% of the fuel was wasted. He built up many thoughts and ideas about laws of heat and
energy.
Diesel was sent back to Paris to oversee the building of a refrigeration plant. In 1881 he had his
first patent on a refrigeration machine and started to work on it by 1883 it worked. He invented
the refrigeration system now used in many electrical refrigerators. Also in 1883, Rudolph married
Martha Flasche. Rudolph and Martha gave birth to three children in total.
Because of economic troubles, Diesel had to settle for a new job in Berlin. So Rudolph and his
family moved to Germany in 1890. There he met an old school friend, who gave Rudolph
motivation to start designing and working on his diesel engine. In February, 1893 Diesel gets

major fields of application are railways and power stations, in which generators are driven by
diesel engines.