Gottlieb Daimler

Gottlieb Daimler (1834 to 1900) was a German engineer, industrial designer and industrialist who pioneered the internal-combustion engine and the automobile. Born in Schorndorf near Stuttgart and trained first as a gunsmith, he turned to mechanical engineering and, with his lifelong partner Wilhelm Maybach, set out to build small, high-speed engines that could power any kind of vehicle. In 1885 they fitted a vertical engine to the Petroleum Reitwagen, the first internal-combustion motorcycle, and soon after to a coach and a boat. In 1890 they turned their partnership into the stock company Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, which sold its first automobile in 1892. Daimler resigned in 1893, returned in 1894 and died in 1900.