The German mechanical engineer Gottlieb Daimler (1834-1900) was a pioneer in the development of the internal combustion engine and the automobile.

Gottlieb Daimler was born on March 17, 1834, at Schorndorf near Stuttgart. He attended a technical school (1848-1852) in Stuttgart while serving as a gunsmith's apprentice. After 4 years (1853-1857) at a Strassburg steam engine factory, he completed his training as a mechanical engineer at the Stuttgart Polytechnic. He returned to Strassburg in 1859, but 2 years later, having recognized the need for a small, low-power engine capable of economic intermittent operation, he left to tour France and England. In Paris he saw E. Lenoir's new gas engine.

Daimler spent the next decade in heavy engineering. He joined Bruderhaus Maschinen-Fabrik in Reutlingen as manager in 1863 and there met Wilhelm Maybach, with whom he was to collaborate closely for the rest of his life. Daimler went to Maschinenbau Gesellschaft in Karlsruhe as director...