Rudolf Diesel's first working diesel engine ran for one minute.

Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel was a German inventor and mechanical engineer who invented the Diesel engine, which burns Diesel fuel; both are named after him.

The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is called a compression-ignition engine. This contrasts with engines using spark plug-ignition of the air-fuel mixture, such as a petrol engine or a gas engine.