Karl Benz
His wife's dowry saved the workshop; her unauthorized road trip proved his automobile worked.
- Born
- 1844 · Mühlburg, Baden (now Karlsruhe, Germany)
- Roots
- German
- Family
- Working class
- His locomotive-driver father died when he was two; his mother kept him in school on very little.
- Education
- Karlsruhe Polytechnic, entered at 15
- Started with
- A dowry
- Bertha Ringer's dowry bought out his unreliable business partner before their marriage.
- Affiliations & societies
- None documented.
- Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.
The pathway
- 1871 · age 27A failing iron workshop
His first venture nearly collapses under a partner; Bertha's dowry buys the man out.
- 1883 · age 39Benz & Cie
A gas-engine company whose profits fund the car work.
- 1886 · age 41Patent-Motorwagen
Patent DRP 37435 — often called the automobile's birth certificate.
- 1888 · age 43Bertha's drive
Without telling him, his wife drives the car 106 km to her mother's with their sons, buying fuel at a pharmacy — the first long-distance car journey, and the publicity that saved it.
- 1926 · age 81Daimler-Benz
His company merges with Daimler; he dies three years later.
Sources
Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.