Diesel isn't just a type of fuel. It is the name of a man who was at the center of one of the biggest stories of intrigue in the early 1900s. Rudolf Diesel was a German entrepreneur who author Douglas Brunt says was the "Elon Musk" of his day. In 1913, Brunt's body was found floating in the English Channel. Did he die naturally, did he commit suicide, or was he murdered? Some suspected the latter, given he seemed to have several natural enemies who formed as he invented the most important fuel in world history. Though the initial investigation was botched, Doug has reconstructed what happened and offers an authoritative theory of how Rudolf Diesel lost his life. Diesel fuel is used worldwide to power all kinds of heavy machinery, and had the world listened to him, and developed and honed alternative fuels to gasoline, history would have gone much differently.

Douglas Brunt's website can be found at https://douglasbrunt-author.com/

Information on his book from Atria Books can be found at https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Mysterious-Case-of-Rudolf-Diesel/Douglas-Brunt/9781982169909

Brunt's podcast, "Dedicated" can be found at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dedicated-with-doug-brunt/id1650390838

Support our show at https://patreon.com/axelbankhistory

**A portion of every contribution is given to a charity for children's literacy**

"Axelbank Reports History and Today" can be found on social media at

https://twitter.com/axelbankhistory

https://instagram.com/axelbankhistory

https://facebook.com/axelbankhistory