5 Things You Didn't Know About Rudolf Diesel

He invented the Diesel engine. You should probably at least know that.

1. He wrote a letter to his parents at age 14 stating that he wanted to be an engineer.

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Like a TOTAL NERD.

2. He didn't graduate with the rest of his class because he contracted typhoid.

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Again, NERD ALERT.

3. He finally got his degree, got a patent, blah blah blah, AND HERE'S WHERE IT GETS GOOD.

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4. One night, he boarded a ship called the Dresden, bound for London, and was never heard from again.

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After dinner, he returned to his cabin as usual. The next day, it was discovered empty, with his clothes neatly folded and his bed never slept in. And then days after that, a decomposing corpse was found floating in the ocean, whose personal effects were identified as belonging to Rudolf by his son. And then after THAT, Rudolf's wife Martha opened a bag he had left her to find that it was full of German marks. So suicide seems reasonable.

However, Rudolf also had plenty of enemies; his invention, which could run on vegetable, seed, or peanut oil, angered wealthy oil men, who may well have wanted him dead for threatening to put them out of business. So WHO KILLED RUDOLF DIESEL??

5. It remains one of the greatest mysteries of our time.

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RIP Rudolf, you big nerd.