The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I

by Douglas Brunt

“One does not have to be a spiritualist, a Protestant, a Catholic, or a Jew in order to feel true love of humanity in his breast and to practice it to the best of his ability. The less one adheres to specific opinions, the more one is open, the freer are his opinions and the more tolerant and loving toward his fellow man.”

He knew that one kilogram of coal contained seventy-five hundred calories, but steam engines captured less than 10 percent of that energy for work. The rest was heat lost to the environment, largely because the coal was not burned directly for work, but rather burned to heat water to steam, then the steam did the work.

While dynamite, guns, and oil are today not typically associated with the Nobel name, the money Alfred Nobel bequeathed in his last will and testament to establish the Nobel Prize came from these sources.