Charles F. Kettering

Charles Franklin Kettering (* August 29, 1876 on a farm near Loudonville, Ohio, † November 25 [ according to other sources November 24 ] 1958 in Dayton ( Ohio)) was a farmer, school teacher, engineer, scientist, inventor and philosopher. Because of his weak eyes, he had twice his studies in mechanical and electrical engineering at Ohio State University interrupt before he could complete it successfully in 1904. After his conviction innovations originated most likely through interdisciplinary collaboration, and he tried to apply this principle everywhere.

Kettering was the owner of more than 300 patents. He found a solution to make the electric starter for internal combustion engines suitable for mass production, and the electric vehicle lighting. His first job was at the National Cash Register Company in Dayton, where he invented the first electric cash register. Other inventions have included a forerunner of the cruise missile, an incubator for premature births and a generator, which played a decisive role in the development of the diesel locomotive.

Kettering founded the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company ( Delco ), which in 1920 was sold to General Motors and renamed the General Motors Research Corporation. Kettering became vice president of the company and remained for 27 years, head of development at GM.

The town of Kettering (a suburb of Dayton ) was renamed in his honor when it was incorporated in 1955. In 1998, the GMI Engineering and Management Institute (formerly General Motors Institute ) in Flint was also renamed in his honor in Kettering University. Since 1979, is awarded by the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation named after him, the Charles F. Kettering Prize.

A famous quote is: "In a fifth of a second you can send a message around the world. But it may take years for them to penetrate from the outside of a human skull inside " Another well-known and very philosophical saying goes ." I am very interested in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there. "

• Engineer, inventor, engineer
• General Motors
• Automotive pioneer
• Industrialist
• Americans
• Born in 1876
• Died in 1958
• Man