No, not Vin Diesel, but the 100 years anniversary of the death of Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine.
Diesel, who died on 29 September 1913 after falling overboard from a ferry travelling from Belgium to England, was the German engineer who invented the combustion engine which revolutionized both the automobile and railway transport.
Some say he was pushed, as he had indicated he wanted the UK to develop his invention which ran on peanut oil. The French were also afraid that he would grant a patent right to Germany to use the engine in submarines. However, other evidence points to suicide as by that time he was almost bankrupt.
Regents at Ford.
In an excellent collaboration, four students from The Regent’s School Pattaya were invited to Ford’s assembly plant in Rayong for a tour of the facility with New Model Programs Chief Engineer for Asia Pacific and Africa, Todd Barber. Todd then presented the students with a series of challenges to be completed between the centenary of Diesel’s death and 1st November. These team challenges include a timed rebuilding of a Ford engine, designing the next Ford vehicle using Google Sketch-Up, creating bio diesel fuel from waste, a creative writing exercise taking the perspective of a carbon atom as it passes through a diesel engine – and even making a model engine from paper clips.
Head of Science at The Regent’s, Paul Press commented, “We are so grateful to the team at Ford for their support.”
