Gottlieb Daimler (1834–1900)

Gottlieb Daimler was one of the outstanding pioneers of the motor industry. Born at Schorndorf, Wurtemburg, he studied at the Polytechnic ...

more

Abiah Darby (1716–94)

Abiah Darby (nee Maude, other married name Sinclair) was the wife of Abraham Darby II (1711-63) of Coalbrookdale, the ironmaster who, in ...

more

Abraham Darby (I–IV)

The Darby dynasty were important figures in the British iron industry for nearly two centuries, and were responsible for innovations that ...

more

William Dargan (1799–1867)

The civil engineer William Dargon is rightly regarded as the ‘father of Irish railways’. He was born in Co Laoise (then Queen’s County), ...

more

Adolf Dassler (1900–78)

Leisure pursuits, links with sporting stars and the cult of celebrity and powerful brand names are characteristics of some twenty-first ...

more

Zino Davidoff (1906–94)

Zino Davidoff established himself as one of Europe’s principal suppliers of cigars, and his name remains one of the most powerful brands ...

more

Sir Humphry Davy (1778–1829)

Humphry Davy was a distinguished scientist who changed coalmining with his design for a safety lamp. As a scientist he was a pioneer of ...

more

Paul Camille von Denis (1795–1872)

Paul Camille Denis was a Franco-German engineer who pioneered railway building in Germany. He designed the country’s first main-line ...

more

John Dickinson (1782–1869)

The mechanisation of the laborious process of making paper by hand was developed by several inventors around 1800. In France, ...

more

Rudolf Diesel (1858–1913)

In the course of the 20th century the diesel engine became the principal means of propelling seagoing ships, heavy lorries and motor ...

more

Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck (1830–1916)

Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck became one of the richest men of his time and from 1901 held the title of ‘Furst’ (i.e. prince). He was ...

more

Georges Dufaud (1777–1852)

Georges Dufaud, born in Beaumont-la-Ferriere (Nièvre), discovered the activity in the La Chaussade forges of Guérigny, led by his ...

more

Henry Dunker (1870–1962)

Henry Dunker was a rubber manufacturer who diversified and expanded his business interests and became the richest man in Sweden. He left ...

more

John Boyd Dunlop (1840–1921)

When he tried to improve his son’s tricycle in 1887, John Boyd Dunlop invented a product that is still in use on billions of vehicles and ...

more

Pedro Duro Benito (1810–86)

Asturias in the north of Spain had a small-scale iron industry in the eighteenth century. However, it had no large blast furnaces to make ...

more