Famous Mechanical Engineers

Willis Haviland Carrier (November 26, 1876 – October 7, 1950) was an American engineer, best known for inventing modern air conditioning. Carrier invented the first electrical air conditioning unit in 1902. In 1915, he founded Carrier Corporation, a company specializing in the manufacture and distribution of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Nikola Tesla was a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current electricity supply system. Tesla gained experience in telephony and electrical engineering before immigrating to the United States in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison in New York City. He soon struck out on his own with financial backers, setting up laboratories and companies to develop a range of electrical devices. His patented AC induction motor and transformer were licensed by George Westinghouse, who

Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (German: [ˈdiːzl̩] (listen ); 18 March 1858 – 29 September 1913) was a German inventor and mechanical engineer, famous for the invention of the Diesel engine, and for his suspicious death at sea. Diesel was the namesake of the 1942 film Diesel.

Bill Nye, popularly known as "The Science Guy", is an eminent television presenter, science communicator, and mechanical engineer. Nye's passion for science was ignited at a young age, leading him to pursue a Mechanical Engineering degree at Cornell University, where he graduated in 1977. After a spell working as an engineer at Boeing, his career took a dramatic twist when he won a Steve Martin look-alike contest and began moonlighting as a stand-up comedian. Combining his love for comedy with his scientific background, he started making appearances on a local sketch comedy show in Seattle, Al

Kalpana Chawla (March 17, 1962 – February 1, 2003) was an American astronaut, engineer, and the first woman of Indian descent to go to space. She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator. In 2003, Chawla was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the spacecraft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, and several streets, universities and institutions have been named in her honor. The late astronau

Felix Heinrich Wankel (13 August 1902 – 9 October 1988) was a German mechanical engineer and inventor after whom the Wankel engine was named.

James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world. While working as an instrument maker at the University of Glasgow, Watt became interested in the technology of steam engines. He realised that contemporary engine designs wasted a great deal of energy by repeatedly cooling and reheating the c

Fyodor Nikolayevich Yurchikhin (Russian: Фёдор Николаевич Юрчихин, Greek: Θεόδωρος Γιουρτσίχιν του Νικόλαου; born 3 January 1959) is a Russian cosmonaut of Greek descent, engineer and RSC Energia test-pilot who has flown on five spaceflights. His first spaceflight was a 10-day Space Shuttle mission STS-112. His second was a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as a Flight Engineer for Expedition 15; for this mission he was launched in the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft. He has undertaken two further long-duration stays aboard the ISS, as a crew member of Expedition 24 / 25.

Karl Friedrich Benz (German: [bɛnts] (listen); 25 November 1844 – 4 April 1929) was a German engine designer, automobile engineer, (or mechanical engineer). His Benz Patent Motorcar from 1885 is considered the first practical automobile. He received a patent for the motorcar in 1886.

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who has been described as America's greatest inventor. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, wor

Mikhail Vladislavovich Tyurin (Russian: Михаил Владиславович Тюрин) (born March 2, 1960) is a former Russian cosmonaut who flew several missions to the International Space Station and completed four spacewalks during his career. He is called a hero of the Russian Federation for his work as a cosmonaut.

Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist and business magnate. He founded the Ford Motor Company and sponsored the development of the assembly line for mass production. Although Ford did not invent the automobile or the assembly line, he developed and manufactured the first car many middle-class Americans could afford. This action converted the automobile from an expensive curiosity into a practical conveyance. It changed the 20th century.

Charles de Ganahl Koch, born November 1, 1935, is an American businessman and political donor. As of March 2019, he was ranked the 11th richest person globally with an estimated net worth of $50.5 billion. Koch has been the co-owner, chairman, and CEO of Koch Industries since 1967. His late brother, David Koch, served as executive vice president. Charles and David jointly owned 42% each of the conglomerate. They inherited the business from their father, Fred C. Koch, expanding it thereafter. The family originally focused exclusively on oil refining and chemicals.

Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (Russian: И́горь Ива́нович Сико́рский, IPA: [ˈiɡərʲ ɪˈvanəvitʃ sʲɪˈkorskʲɪj] (listen), tr. Ígor' Ivánovič Sikórskij) was a Russian-American aviation pioneer in helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. His first success involved the S-2, the second aircraft he designed and built. The S-5 airplane earned him national recognition and an F.A.I. license number of 64. The S-6-A received the highest award at the 1912 Moscow Aviation Exhibition; the aircraft won for its designer and builder in the fall of that year.

Sir Carl Wilhelm Siemens (April 4, 1823 – November 19, 1883), anglicized as Charles William Siemens, was a German-British engineer and entrepreneur.

James Henry Northrop (8 May 1856 – 12 December 1940) was born in Keighley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. He worked in the textile industry there. In 1881, he emigrated to Boston, MA, USA. By 1898, while working for George Draper and Sons in Hopedale, Massachusetts, he filed several hundred patents. Some of these patents were used in the Northrop Loom. Northrop retired at age 42. He died in Santa Ana, California on 12 December 1940, at age 84.

Charles Babbage (December 26, 1791 – October 18, 1871) was an English polymath. As a mathematician, philosopher, inventor, and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Some credit him as the "father of the computer." Babbage invented the first mechanical computer, which led to more complex electronic designs. All essential ideas for modern computers are found in his analytical engine. His broad work established him as a pre-eminent polymath of his century.

George Stephenson (June 9, 1781 – August 12, 1848) was an English civil and mechanical engineer. He is renowned as the "Father of Railways," praised by Victorians for his thirst for improvement. Samuel Smiles, a self-help advocate, specifically commended his achievements. Stephenson's rail gauge, sometimes called 'Stephenson gauge,' established the 4 feet 8 1⁄2 inches (1,435 mm) standard gauge used by most world railways. Stephenson pioneered rail transport as a major technological invention in the 19th century.

Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev (Russian: Серге́й Константинович Крикалёв; born August 27, 1958) is a Russian cosmonaut and mechanical engineer. As a prominent rocket scientist, he flew six space missions. He ranks third among space travelers to Gennady Padalka and Yuri Malenchenko for time in space: 803 days, 9 hours, and 39 minutes. Krikalev retired from spaceflight in 2007. He currently serves as vice president of Space Corporation Energia.

Thomas Orr Leith OBE, FRAE (March 23, 1926 – November 7, 2005), was a leading Scottish mechanical engineer and industrialist.

Fred Wilson (August 20, 1961) is an American businessman, venture capitalist, and blogger. Wilson co-founded Union Square Ventures, a New York City venture capital firm. This firm invests in Web 2.0 companies like Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, Zynga, Kickstarter, and MongoDB.

Ursula M. Burns (September 20, 1958) is an American businesswoman. She serves as chairman and CEO of VEON, acts as a senior advisor to Teneo, and is a non-executive director at Diageo since April 2018. She also sits on the board of directors for Uber. In 2009, Burns became CEO of Xerox. This made her the first Black woman CEO of a Fortune 500 company and the first woman to succeed another in that role. She served as Xerox CEO from 2009 to 2016 and chairwoman from 2010 to 2017. In 2014, Forbes listed her as the 22nd most powerful woman globally.

Whitcomb L. Judson (March 7, 1846 – December 8, 1909) was an American machine salesman, mechanical engineer, and inventor. Judson invented the zipper in the 1890s.

Nathaniel C. Wyeth (October 24, 1911 – July 4, 1990) was an American mechanical engineer and inventor. He created polyethylene terephthalate that withstands pressurized liquids. Made of recyclable PET plastic, this material is lighter than glass and virtually unbreakable. Wyeth's invention is now widely used for both carbonated and non-carbonated drinks.

Nikolai Mikhailovich Budarin (Russian: Николай Михайлович Бударин) was born April 29, 1953, in Kirya, Chuvashia. He is a retired Russian cosmonaut who participated in three extended space missions on the Mir Space Station and the International Space Station. Budarin performed eight career spacewalks, totaling 44 hours. Named a cosmonaut candidate in 1989, his first space mission was a long-term assignment aboard Mir in 1995. He made further extended stays on Mir in 1998 and the International Space Station Expedition 6 from 2002 to 2003.

Yury Vladimirovich Usachov (Russian: Юрий Владимирович Усачёв; born October 9, 1957 in Donetsk, Rostov Oblast, Russia) is a former cosmonaut who resides in Star City, Moscow. Usachov is a veteran of four spaceflights, including two long duration missions on board the Mir Space Station and another on board the International Space Station. During his career, he also conducted seven spacewalks before his retirement on April 5, 2004.

Franklin Ramón Chang Díaz (April 5, 1950) is a Costa Rican American mechanical engineer, physicist, former NASA astronaut. He is the founder and current CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company as well as a member of Cummins' board of directors. He became an American citizen in 1977. He is of Costa Rican Spanish (maternal side) and Chinese (paternal side) descent. He is a veteran of seven Space Shuttle missions, tying the record, as of 2018 for the most spaceflights (a record set by Jerry L. Ross). He was the third Latin American, but the first Latin American immigrant NASA Astronaut selected to go into

John Henry Kinealy (1864–1928) was an American mechanical engineer. He was born at Hannibal, Missouri, and was educated in the public schools of St. Louis and at Washington University (M.E., 1884), where he was an instructor in 1886-87 and professor of mechanical engineering from 1892 to 1902. He taught also at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (1887–89) and at the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts (1889–92). He was a consulting engineer at Boston in 1902-04 and thereafter a mechanical engineer and patent expert at St. Louis. His own patents include an ai

Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom (April 3, 1926 – January 27, 1967) was one of the seven original National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Project Mercury astronauts, and the first of the Mercury Seven to die. He was also a Project Gemini and an Apollo program astronaut. Grissom was the second American to fly in space, and the first member of the NASA Astronaut Corps to fly in space twice. In addition, Grissom was a World War II and Korean War veteran, U.S. Air Force test pilot, and a mechanical engineer. He was a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal with an oak leaf

Su Song was a renowned Han Chinese polymath who was described as a scientist, mathematician, statesman, astronomer, cartographer, horologist, medical doctor, pharmacologist, mineralogist, zoologist, botanist, mechanical and architectural engineer, poet, antiquarian, and ambassador of the Song Dynasty. Su Song was the engineer of a hydro-mechanical astronomical clock tower in medieval Kaifeng, which employed the use of an early escapement mechanism. The escapement mechanism of Su's clock tower had been invented by Buddhist monk Yi Xing and government official Liang Lingzan in 725 AD to operate

George Herman Babcock (June 17, 1832 – December 16, 1893) was an American inventor. He and Stephen Wilcox co-invented a safer water tube steam boiler, and founded the Babcock & Wilcox boiler company. Babock was born in Otsego County, New York in a family of inventors. As a boy he started his career in the woolen mill industry. Still in his tens he started a printing office in Westerly, Rhode Island. Here he founded the "Literary Echo" journal, which was later renamed "The Narragansett" and was continued until the end of 19th century. Through his interest in photography he started a printing-pr

Zhang Heng (Chinese: 張衡; AD 78–139), formerly romanized as Chang Heng, was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman from Nanyang who lived during the Han dynasty. Educated in the capital cities of Luoyang and Chang'an, he achieved success as an astronomer, mathematician, seismologist, hydraulic engineer, inventor, geographer, cartographer, ethnographer, artist, poet, philosopher, politician, and literary scholar. Zhang Heng began his career as a minor civil servant in Nanyang. Eventually, he became Chief Astronomer, Prefect of the Majors for Official Carriages, and then Palace Attendant at

Sir Richard Arkwright (23 December 1732 – 3 August 1792) was an English inventor and a leading entrepreneur during the early Industrial Revolution. He is credited as the driving force behind the development of the spinning frame, known as the water frame after it was adapted to use water power; and he patented a rotary carding engine to convert raw cotton to "cotton lap" prior to spinning. He was the first to develop factories housing both mechanised carding and spinning operations.Arkwright's achievement was to combine power, machinery, semi-skilled labour and the new raw material of cotton t

John Ericsson (born Johan) (July 31, 1803 – March 8, 1889) was a Swedish-American inventor. He was active in England and the United States. Ericsson collaborated on the design of the steam locomotive Novelty, which competed in the Rainhill Trials on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which were won by George Stephenson's Rocket. In America he designed the US Navy's first screw-propelled steam-frigate USS Princeton, in partnership with Captain Robert Stockton, who unjustly blamed him for a fatal accident. A new partnership with Cornelius H. DeLamater of the DeLamater Iron Works in New York r

Robert Stephenson FRS was an early railway engineer. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", he built on the achievements of his father. Robert has been called the greatest engineer of the 19th century. Robert was born in Willington Quay, Northumberland, to George and Frances née Henderson, before they moved to Killingworth, where Robert was taught at the local village school. Robert attended the middle-class Percy Street Academy in Newcastle and at the age of fifteen was apprenticed to the mining engineer Nicholas Wood. He left before he had completed his three years to h

Karen LuJean Nyberg was born October 7, 1969. She is an American mechanical engineer and NASA astronaut. Nyberg became the 50th woman in space on her first mission in 2008. She began her space career in 1991. She spent 180 days in space in 2008 and 2013, serving as a Mission Specialist on STS-124 and a Flight Engineer on Soyuz TMA-09M.

Andrea Pininfarina (June 26, 1957 – August 7, 2008) was an Italian engineer and manager. He was the former CEO of Pininfarina, a coachbuilder founded by his grandfather Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930. The family still controls the company. Andrea Pininfarina was the son of Sergio Pininfarina and married Italian aristocrat Cristina Maddalena Pellion di Persano. They had three children: Benedetta, Sergio, and Luca Pininfarina. He was born in Turin. In 1981, he graduated from the Polytechnic of Turin as a mechanical engineer. In 1982, he worked for Fruehauf corporation in the United States of America. This occurred in 1983.

Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. He became one of the first management consultants. Taylor led the Efficiency Movement and his ideas influenced the Progressive Era (1890s–1920s). He summarized his efficiency techniques in his book The Principles of Scientific Management. In 2001, Fellows of the Academy of Management voted this book the most influential management book of the twentieth century. His pioneering work involved applying these concepts.

Karl Gustaf Patrik de Laval (born May 9, 1845; died February 2, 1913) was a Swedish engineer and inventor. He made important contributions to steam turbine and dairy machinery design.

Richard Roberts (22 April 1789 – 11 March 1864) was a Welsh patternmaker and engineer whose development of high-precision machine tools contributed to the birth of production engineering and mass production.

Dmitriy Fyodorovich Ustinov (Russian: Дмитрий Фёдорович Устинов; 30 October 1908 – 20 December 1984) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union and Soviet politician during the Cold War. He served as a Central Committee secretary in charge of the Soviet military–industrial complex from 1965 to 1976 and as Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union from 1976 until his death in 1984. Ustinov was born in the city of Samara to a Russian working-class family in 1908. Upon reaching adulthood, he joined the Communist Party in 1927 before pursuing a career in engineering. After graduating from the Institute of Mi

Charbel Farhat is the Vivian Church Hoff Professor of Aircraft Structures in the School of Engineering at Stanford University, where he is also Chairman of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Professor in the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Director of the Army High Performance Computing Research Center, and Director of the King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology Center of Excellence for Aeronautics and Astronautics. He also serves on the United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), and on the Space Te

Menelaos Pappas holds a Diploma (M.Eng.) in Mechanical Engineering (2002, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of Patras, Greece) and a Ph.D. (Dr.Eng.) in the field of Digital Human Modeling for Computer-Aided Ergonomics (2009, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of Patras, Greece). He is Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Technological Educational Institute (T.E.I.) of Western Macedonia, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Kozani, Greece (Courses: CAD-CAM Systems & Mechanical Drawing II) and at the Technological Educational Institute (T.E.I.) of Lar

Badīʿ az-Zaman Abu l-ʿIzz ibn Ismāʿīl ibn ar-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206, Arabic: بديع الزمان أَبُ اَلْعِزِ إبْنُ إسْماعِيلِ إبْنُ الرِّزاز الجزري‎, IPA: [ældʒæzæriː]) was a Muslim polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, artisan, artist and mathematician. He is best known for writing The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (Arabic: كتاب في معرفة الحيل الهندسية‎, romanized: Kitab fi ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiya, lit. 'Book in knowledge of engineering tricks') in 1206, where he described 100 mechanical devices, some 80 of which are trick vessels of various kinds, along

Fathullah Shirazi (c. 1582), sometimes referred to as Amir Fathullah Shirazi, was a Persian-Indian polymath—a scholar, Islamic jurist, finance minister, mechanical engineer, inventor, mathematician, astronomer, physician, philosopher and artist—who worked for Akbar, ruler of the Mughal Empire. He invented Gaj-I-illahi system . Shirazi was given the title of 'Azuddudaulah, translated as "the arm of the empire."

Yi Xing (Chinese: 一行; pinyin: Yī Xíng; Wade–Giles: I-Hsing, 683–727), born Zhang Sui (Chinese: 張遂), was a Chinese astronomer, mathematician, mechanical engineer and Buddhist monk of the Tang dynasty (618–907). His astronomical celestial globe featured a clockwork escapement mechanism, the first in a long tradition of Chinese astronomical clockworks.

György Jendrassik (1898 Budapest – 1954 London) was a Hungarian physicist and mechanical engineer. Jendrassik completed his education at Budapest's József Technical University, then at the University of Berlin attended lectures of the famous physicists Einstein and Planck. In 1922 he obtained his diploma in mechanical engineering in Budapest. From 1927 he worked at Ganz Rt, where he helped to develop diesel engines, of which the first few pieces were made with single and double cylinders; later, the 4- and 6-cylinder four-stroke versions were developed, without compression and with mixing cham

Robert H. Roy was an American mechanical engineer and the former Dean of Engineering Science at Johns Hopkins University. Roy enrolled in mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins in 1925. There, he played lacrosse and was a member of the school's national championship team. He served as a defender on the U.S. national lacrosse team that competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. After returning from the Olympics, Roy joined Waverly Press to work in engineering.

Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis (May 21, 1792 – September 19, 1843) was a French mathematician, mechanical engineer, and scientist. He developed the concept of supplementary forces detected in a rotating frame of reference, leading to the Coriolis effect. Coriolis first applied the term travail (work) for energy transfer by a force acting over a distance.