Thursday 18th March 1858

Born on this day, Rudolf Diesel, German engineer and inventor of the diesel engine. He called his invention a “compression ignition engine” that could burn any fuel. Diesel disappeared from a steamer en route to London in September 1913. His body was recovered on the shore days later. The circumstances surrounding his death are still a mystery; some believe he may have committed suicide, while others speculate that he was murdered by coal industrialists.