Who Invented the Automobile

"...the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it...", is a very famous statement by President Barack Obama. This very statement sparked off the debate over the invention of the automobile. Critics challenged the knowledge of President Obama and advocates supported the statement. But the truth is, neither the critics nor advocates are totally right or wrong. I might sound like nut case but that's the truth. Some events in the history of mankind are molded by not one, but several pairs of hands.

Invention of the Automobile
As a random one-word answer to this question, people would roll out several answers and comments. The truth is that there is not one, but several inventors of the automobile, the first one being Leonardo Da Vinci, who made the first blueprint for the automobile. The following table of inventors gives a brief timeline about the significant events in the evolution of the automobile.

Name of Inventor	Year of Release	Description	Country/Region of Origin
Leonardo Da Vinci	Unknown	drawings and plans	Italy
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot	1769	steam propulsion invented for French Army, three wheeled	France
Robert Anderson	1885/86	electric propulsion	Scotland
Karl Friedrich Benz	1885/86	gasoline propulsion, internal combustion engine	Germany
Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach	1886	gasoline propulsion, internal combustion, four-stroke engine	Germany
George Baldwin Selden	1876/95	gasoline propulsion	United States
Charles and Frank Duryea	1893	gasoline propulsion, first commercially manufactured automobile	United States

FAQs About the Invention of the Automobile
From the table, you must have realized that the automobile is an invention that has been molded by many scientists, who put their signatures on their individual inventions. The following is a small set of frequently asked questions about the automobile industry.

Q: Who invented the automobile engine?
A: Karl Friedrich Benz invented the first internal combustion engine, that was light enough to fit an automobile and powerful enough to propel it. The first steam engine that was used on a car was made by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot.

Q: Which was the first automobile accident?
A: Again there are two answers to this question. The first automobile accident involving an automobile propelled by an internal combustion engine took place in 1891 Ohio, when Lambert and James Swoveland were injured after their car hit a tree. The accident that involved a steam-propelled automobile resulted into the death of scientist Mary Ward in the year 1869.

Q: Who invented the world's first, vertical, four step automobile engine?
A: Gottlieb Daimler

Q: Who invented the assembly line?
A: Ransom E. Olds, 1901

You will notice that there are several other contributors to the technology of automobiles, who made innovations, modified it, and perfected its functioning. Automobiles have indeed progressed through time and centuries, into machines of grace and speed that we ride today. President Obama's statement has been criticized and also supported, but history always shows the truth. Ironically, the United States Congress Library credits Karl Benz to be the inventor of the first true automobile, propelled by an internal combustion engine.