Next time you're stuck in bed recovering from injury or sickness and are looking for something to relieve the boredom, you might consider designing a new kind of engine. That's what Rudolph Diesel did.

During his early research into fuel efficiency he experimented with an ammonia vapor based steam engine. While he was in the hospital recuperating from that experiment he studied the technical papers of one Nicolaus Otto (the German inventor of the internal combustion engine).

From his studies Diesel realized that Otto had severely limited his engine's efficiency by premixing the fuel in the air.

Diesel's solution was both simple and elegant. He only added the fuel when he wanted to ignite it, thus eliminating any mechanical limit to theoretical efficiency.

Born to Bavarian immigrant parents on March 18, 1858 in Paris; Rudolph Christian Karl Diesel is of course most famous for the invention of the engine that bears his name, but he did have several other accomplishments to his credit. He was also a well respected thermal, lecturer and social theorist. He toured the US as a lecturer in 1904 and self-published two volumes of his social philosophy.

Diesel's social philosophy was actually the impetus for the creation of his engine. His father was a craftsman and Diesel hoped that his engine would allow independent artisans and craftsman like his Father to compete with large industry.

In some instances those who accomplish brilliant things later on in life show either no signs of their genius when young, or even appear backward. This was not the case with young Rudolph Diesel. At fifteen he entered Augsburg Technical College; three years later not only was he the youngest person to ever graduate from there, but he also had the highest final exam score in German history.

His success earned him a scholarship to The Polytechnic High School in Munich. Don't let the name fool you, it was the equivalent of an American university. There he met and studied under the distinguished Professor Carl Von Linde. Von Linde was so impressed with Diesel that upon graduation he helped Rudolph get a job with the Gebrder Sulzer Maschinenfabrik, a factory that made Linde ice makers.

While there he came up with a process for producing crystal clear ice. The company wasn't interested, so he took it to a German firm who were and this led him back to Paris where he sold the machines to brewers. This fortuitously brought him into contact with Martha Flasche,

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