Editing Rudolf Diesel (section)

==Early life and education==
Diesel was born on 18 March 1858 at 38 Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth in Paris, [[Second French Empire|France]],<ref>{{Herring-Ultimate Train}}, p. 148.</ref> the second of three children of Elise (née Strobel) and Theodor Diesel. His parents were Bavarian immigrants living in Paris.<ref name="Moon 1974">{{Harvnb|Moon|1974}}.</ref><ref name="Grosser 1978">{{Harvnb|Grosser|1978}}.</ref> Theodor Diesel, a [[Bookbinding|bookbinder]] by trade, left his home town of [[Augsburg]], [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]], in 1848. He met his wife, a daughter of a [[Nuremberg]] merchant, in Paris in 1855 and became a leather goods manufacturer there.<ref>{{Harvnb|Sittauer|1990}}, p. 49.</ref> 

Shortly after his birth, Diesel was given away to a [[Vincennes]] farmer family, where he spent his first nine months. When he was returned to his family, they moved into a flat at 49 Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi. At the time, the Diesel family suffered from financial difficulties, thus young Rudolf Diesel had to work in his father's workshop and deliver leather goods to customers using a barrow. He attended a [[Protestant]]-French school and soon became interested in social questions and technology.<ref>{{Harvnb|Sittauer|1990}}, p. 50.</ref> Being a very good student, 12-year-old Diesel received the Société pour l'Instruction Elémentaire bronze medal<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020|title=Société pour l'instruction élémentaire|url=http://www.inrp.fr/edition-electronique/lodel/dictionnaire-ferdinand-buisson/document.php?id=3647|access-date=23 February 2021|website=www.inrp.fr/edition-electronique/lodel/dictionnaire-ferdinand-buisson|language=fr}}</ref> and had plans to enter Ecole Primaire Supérieure in 1870.<ref name="Sittauer 1990">{{Harvnb|Sittauer|1990}}, p. 51.</ref>

At the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War]] the same year, his family were deported to England, settling in [[London]], where Diesel attended an English-speaking school.<ref name="Sittauer 1990"/> Before the war's end, however, Diesel's mother sent 12-year-old Rudolf to Augsburg to live with his aunt and uncle, Barbara and Christoph Barnickel, to become fluent in German and to visit the ''Königliche Kreis-Gewerbeschule'' (Royal County Vocational College), where his uncle taught mathematics. He was enrolled at the ''Technische Hochschule'' (Technical High School).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rudolf Diesel |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/internal-combustion-engine |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=Britannica. |language=en-GB}}</ref>

At the age of 14, Diesel wrote a letter to his parents saying that he intended to become an engineer. After finishing his basic education at the top of his class in 1873, he enrolled at the newly founded Industrial School of Augsburg. Two years later, he received a merit scholarship from the [[Technical University of Munich|Royal Bavarian Polytechnic of Munich]], which he accepted against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to begin working instead.