Rudolf Diesel was a German mechanical engineer and inventor recognized worldwide for his famous invention of the Diesel engine. The second child of Bavarian immigrants, he spent the first months of his life in a Vincennes farmer’s family. As a young child, he worked in his father's workshop to meet the financial needs of his family. Diesel’s interest in technology developed when he was in a Protestant-French school. He alongside his family was forced to leave Germany during the Franco-Prussian War and they eventually settled in London. The then 12-year-old Diesel was sent back to Germany where he studied at the Royal Bavarian Polytechnic of Munich on a scholarship. His career as an inventor started during the early 1890s when he assisted his professor Carl von Linde with the construction of a refrigeration plant. Diesel soon conceived the idea for a combustion engine and successfully developed it in 1897. In September 1913, he suddenly disappeared while travelling on a steamer on his way to a meeting in London. He was later reported to have died. He left behind his wife and three children.