Karl Benz
Born	(1844-11-25)November 25, 1844 Mühlburg (Karlsruhe)
Died	April 4, 1929(1929-04-04) (aged 84) Ladenburg
Nationality	German
Education	University of Karlsruhe
Spouse	Bertha Ringer
Children	5, Eugen, Richard, Clara, Ellen, Thilde
Parents	Johann George Benz (father), Josephine Vaillant (mother)
Work
Significant projects	founded Mercedes-Benz
Significant design	Benz Patent Motorwagen
Significant advance	gasoline-powered automobile

 Karl Friedrich Benz (help·info) (November 25, 1844 – April 4, 1929) was a German engine designer and car engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered automobile, and together with Bertha Benz pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz. Other German contemporaries, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach working as partners, also worked on similar types of inventions, without knowledge of the work of the other, but Benz patented his work first, and, subsequently patented all the processes that made the internal combustion engine feasible for use in an automobile. In 1879 his first engine patent was granted to him and in 1886 Benz was granted a patent for his first automobile.

Early life[link]

Karl Benz was born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant, in Karlsruhe, Baden, which is part of modern Germany, to Josephine Vaillant and a locomotive driver, Johann George Benz, whom she married a few months later.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} When he was two years old, his father was killed in a railway accident, and his name was changed to Karl Friedrich Benz in remembrance of his father.^[6]

Despite living in near poverty, his mother strove to give him a good education. Benz attended the local Grammar School in Karlsruhe and was a prodigious student. In 1853, at the age of nine he started at the scientifically oriented Lyceum. Next he studied at the Poly-Technical University under the instruction of Ferdinand Redtenbacher.

Karl Benz, 1869, 25 years old (Zenodot Verlagsges. mbH)

Benz had originally focused his studies on locksmithing, but eventually followed his father's steps toward locomotive engineering. On September 30, 1860, at age fifteen, he passed the entrance exam for mechanical engineering at the University of Karlsruhe, which he subsequently attended. Benz was graduated July 9, 1864 at nineteen.

During these years, while riding his bicycle, he started to envision concepts for a vehicle that would eventually become the horseless carriage.

Following his formal education, Benz had seven years of professional training in several companies, but did not fit well in any of them. The training started in Karlsruhe with two years of varied jobs in a mechanical engineering company.

He then moved to Mannheim to work as a draftsman and designer in a scales factory. In 1868 he went to Pforzheim to work for a bridge building company Gebrüder Benckiser Eisenwerke und Maschinenfabrik. Finally, he went to Vienna for a short period to work at an iron construction company.

Benz's first factory and early inventions (1871–1882)[link]

In 1871, at the age of twenty-seven, Karl Benz joined August Ritter in launching the Iron Foundry and Mechanical Workshop in Mannheim, later renamed Factory for Machines for Sheet-metal Working.^[7]

The enterprise's first year went very badly. Ritter turned out to be unreliable, and the business's tools were impounded. The difficulty was overcome when Benz's fiancée, Bertha Ringer, bought out Ritter's share in the company using her dowry.^[7][8]

On July 20, 1872 Karl Benz and Bertha Ringer married. They had five children: Eugen (1873), Richard (1874), Clara (1877), Thilde (1882), and Ellen (1890).

Despite such business misfortunes, Karl Benz led in the development of new engines in the early factory he and his wife owned. To get more revenues, in 1878 he began to work on new patents. First, he concentrated all his efforts on creating a reliable gas two-stroke engine. Benz finished his two-stroke engine on December 31, 1878, New Year's Eve, and was granted a patent for it in 1879.

Karl Benz showed his real genius, however, through his successive inventions registered while designing what would become the production standard for his two-stroke engine. Benz soon patented the speed regulation system, the ignition using white power sparks with battery, the spark plug, the carburetor, the clutch, the gear shift, and the water radiator.

Benz's Gasmotoren-Fabrik Mannheim (1882–1883)[link]

Problems arose again when the banks at Mannheim demanded that Bertha and Karl Benz's enterprise be incorporated due to the high production costs it maintained. The Benzes were forced to improvise an association with photographer Emil Bühler and his brother (a cheese merchant), in order to get additional bank support. The company became the joint-stock company Gasmotoren Fabrik Mannheim in 1882.

After all the necessary incorporation agreements, Benz was unhappy because he was left with merely five percent of the shares and a modest position as director. Worst of all, his ideas weren't considered when designing new products, so he withdrew from that corporation just one year later, in 1883.

Benz & Cie. and the Motorwagen[link]

Official signpost of Bertha Benz Memorial Route, commemorating the world's first long distance journey with a Benz Patent-Motorwagen Number 3 in 1888

Benz's lifelong hobby brought him to a bicycle repair shop in Mannheim owned by Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eßlinger. In 1883, the three founded a new company producing industrial machines: Benz & Company Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik, usually referred to as, Benz & Cie. Quickly growing to twenty-five employees, it soon began to produce static gas engines as well.

The success of the company gave Benz the opportunity to indulge in his old passion of designing a horseless carriage. Based on his experience with, and fondness for, bicycles, he used similar technology when he created an automobile. It featured wire wheels (unlike carriages' wooden ones) ^[9] with a four-stroke engine of his own design between the rear wheels, with a very advanced coil ignition ^[10] and evaporative cooling rather than a radiator.^[10] Power was transmitted by means of two roller chains to the rear axle. Karl Benz finished his creation in 1885 and named it the Benz Patent Motorwagen.

It was the first automobile entirely designed as such to generate its own power, not simply a motorized-stage coach or horse carriage, which is why Karl Benz was granted his patent and is regarded as its inventor.

The Motorwagen was patented on January 29, 1886 as DRP-37435: "automobile fueled by gas".^[11] The 1885 version was difficult to control, leading to a collision with a wall during a public demonstration. The first successful tests on public roads were carried out in the early summer of 1886. The next year Benz created the Motorwagen Model 2, which had several modifications, and in 1887, the definitive Model 3 with wooden wheels was introduced, showing at the Paris Expo the same year.^[10]

Benz began to sell the vehicle (advertising it as the Benz Patent Motorwagen) in the late summer of 1888, making it the first commercially available automobile in history. The second customer of the Motorwagen was a Parisian bicycle manufacturer ^[10] Emile Roger who had already been building Benz engines under license from Karl Benz for several years. Roger added the Benz automobiles (many built in France) to the line he carried in Paris and initially most were sold there.

Replica of the Benz Patent Motorwagen built in 1885

Engine of the Benz Patent Motorwagen

Early customers could only buy gasoline from pharmacies that sold small quantities as a cleaning product. The early 1888 version of the Motorwagen had no gears and could not climb hills unaided. This limitation was rectified after Bertha Benz made her famous trip driving one of the vehicles a great distance and suggested to her husband the addition of another gear.

An important part in the Benz story is this first long distance automobile trip, where entrepreneurial Bertha Benz, supposedly without the knowledge of her husband, on the morning of August 5, 1888, took this vehicle on a 106 km (66 mi) trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim to visit her mother, taking her sons Eugen and Richard with her. In addition to having to locate pharmacies on the way to fuel up, she repaired various technical and mechanical problems and invented brake lining. After some longer downhill slopes she ordered a shoemaker to nail leather on the brake blocks. Bertha Benz and sons finally arrived at nightfall, announcing the achievement to Karl by telegram. It had been her intention to demonstrate the feasibility of using the Benz Motorwagen for travel and to generate publicity in the manner now referred to as live marketing. Today the event is celebrated every two years in Germany with an antique automobile rally. In 2008 Bertha Benz Memorial Route^[12] was officially approved as a route of industrial heritage of mankind, because it follows Bertha Benz's tracks of the world's first long-distance journey by automobile in 1888. Now everybody can follow the 194 km of signposted route from Mannheim via Heidelberg to Pforzheim (Black Forest) and back.

Benz's Model 3 made its wide-scale debut to the world in the 1889 World's Fair in Paris; about twenty-five Motorwagens were built between 1886 and 1893.

Benz & Cie. expansion[link]

Karl Benz introduced the Velo in 1894, becoming the first production automobile

Bertha Benz with her husband Karl Benz in a Benz Viktoria, model 1894

First internal combustion engined bus in history: a Benz truck modified by Netphener company (1895)

Benz "Velo" model presentation in London 1898

The great demand for stationary, static internal combustion engines forced Karl Benz to enlarge the factory in Mannheim, and in 1886 a new building located on Waldhofstrasse (operating until 1908) was added. Benz & Cie. had grown in the interim from 50 employees in 1889 to 430 in 1899.

During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest automobile company in the world with 572 units produced in 1899.

Because of its size, in 1899, Benz & Cie. became a joint-stock company with the arrival of Friedrich von Fischer and Julius Ganß, who came aboard as members of the Board of Management. Ganß worked in the commercialization department, which is somewhat similar to marketing in contemporary corporations.

The new directors recommended that Benz should create a less expensive automobile suitable for mass production. In 1893, Karl Benz created the Victoria, a two-passenger automobile with a 2.2 kW (3.0 hp) engine, which could reach the top speed of 18 km/h (11 mph) and had a pivotal front axle operated by a roller-chained tiller for steering. The model was successful with 85 units sold in 1893.

The Benz Velo also participated in the first automobile race, the 1894 Paris to Rouen Rally.

In 1895, Benz designed the first truck in history, with some of the units later modified by the first motor bus company: the Netphener, becoming the first motor buses in history.

In 1896, Karl Benz was granted a patent for his design of the first flat engine. It had horizontally opposed pistons, a design in which the corresponding pistons reach top dead centre simultaneously, thus balancing each other with respect to momentum. Flat engines with four or fewer cylinders are most commonly called boxer engines, boxermotor in German, and also are known as horizontally opposed engines. This design is still used by Porsche, Subaru, and some high performance engines used in racing cars. In motorcycles, the most famous boxer engine is found in BMW motorcycles,^{[citation needed]} though the boxer engine design was used in many other models, including Zundapp, Wooler, Douglas Dragonfly, Ratier, Universal, IMZ-Ural, Dnepr, Gnome et Rhône, Chang Jiang, Marusho, and the Honda Gold Wing.

Although Gottlieb Daimler died in March 1900—and there is no evidence that Benz and Daimler knew each other nor that they knew about each other's early achievements—eventually, competition with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in Stuttgart began to challenge the leadership of Benz & Cie. In October 1900 the main designer of DMG, Wilhelm Maybach, built the engine that would be used later, in the Mercedes-35hp of 1902. The engine was built to the specifications of Emil Jellinek under a contract for him to purchase thirty-six vehicles with the engine and for him to become a dealer of the special series. Jellinek stipulated the new engine be named Daimler-Mercedes (for his daughter). Maybach would quit DMG in 1907, but he designed the model and all of the important changes. After testing, the first was delivered to Jellinek on December 22, 1900. Jellinek continued to make suggestions for changes to the model and obtained good results racing the automobile in the next few years, encouraging DMG to engage in commercial production of automobiles, which they did in 1902.

Logo with laurels used on Benz & Cie automobiles after 1909

Benz countered with Parsifil, introduced in 1903 with a vertical twin engine that achieved a top speed of 37 mph (60 km/h). Then, without consulting Benz, the other directors hired some French designers. France was a country with an extensive automobile industry based on Maybach's creations. Because of this action, after difficult discussions, Karl Benz announced his retirement from design management on January 24, 1903, although he remained as director on the Board of Management through its merger with DMG in 1926 and, remained on the board of the new Daimler-Benz corporation until his death in 1929.

Benz's sons Eugen and Richard left Benz & Cie. in 1903, but Richard returned to the company in 1904 as the designer of passenger vehicles.

That year, sales of Benz & Cie. reached 3,480 automobiles, and the company remained the leading manufacturer of automobiles.

Along with continuing as a director of Benz & Cie., Karl Benz would soon found another company, C. Benz Söhnewith (with his son Eugen and closely held within the family), a privately held company for manufacturing automobiles. The brand name used the first initial of the French variant of Benz's first name, "Carl".

Blitzen Benz[link]

1909 Blitzen Benz - built by Benz & Cie., which held the land speed record

In 1909, the Blitzen Benz was built in Mannheim by Benz & Cie. The bird-beaked vehicle had a 21.5-liter (1312ci), 150 kW (200 hp) engine, and on November 9, 1909 in the hands of Victor Hémery of France,^[13] the land speed racer at Brooklands, set a record of 226.91 km/h (141.94 mph), said to be "faster than any plane, train, or automobile" at the time, a record that was not exceeded for ten years by any other vehicle. It was transported to several countries, including the United States, to establish multiple records of this achievement.

Benz Söhne (1906–1923)[link]

Karl and Bertha Benz c. 1914 (collection of Zenodot Verlagsgesellschaft mbH)

Karl Benz, Bertha Benz, and their son, Eugen, moved 10 km east of Mannheim to live in nearby Ladenburg, and solely with their own capital, founded the private company, C. Benz Sons (German: Benz Söhne) in 1906, producing automobiles and gas engines. The latter type was replaced by petrol engines because lack of demand.

Logo on family held business production vehicles

This company never issued stocks publicly, building its own line of automobiles independently from Benz & Cie., which was located in Mannheim. The Benz Sons automobiles were of good quality and became popular in London as taxis.

In 1912, Karl Benz liquidated all of his shares in Benz Sons and left the family-held company in Ladenburg to Eugen and Richard, but he remained as a director of Benz & Cie.

During a birthday celebration for him in his home town of Karlsruhe on November 25, 1914, the seventy-year-old Karl Benz was awarded an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, the Karlsruhe University, thereby becoming—Dr. Ing. h. c. Karl Benz.

1923 Benz "Teardrop" aerodynamic racecar

Almost from the very beginning of the production of automobiles, participation in sports car racing became a major method to gain publicity for manufacturers. At first, the production models were raced and the Benz Velo participated in the first automobile race: Paris to Rouen 1894. Later, investment in developing racecars for motorsports produced returns through sales generated by the association of the name of the automobile with the winners. Unique race vehicles were built at the time, as seen in the photograph here of the Benz, the first mid-engine and aerodynamically designed, Tropfenwagen, a "teardrop" body introduced at the 1923 European Grand Prix at Monza.

In the last production year of the Benz Sons company, 1923, three hundred and fifty units were built. During the following year, 1924, Karl Benz built two additional 8/25 hp units of the automobile manufactured by this company, tailored for his personal use, which he never sold; they are still preserved.

[edit] Toward Daimler-Benz and the first Mercedes-Benz in 1926

Last home of Karl and Bertha Benz, now the location of the Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation in Ladenburg, in Baden-Württemberg

The German economic crisis worsened. In 1923 Benz & Cie. produced only 1,382 units in Mannheim, and DMG made only 1,020 in Stuttgart. The average cost of an automobile was 25 million marks because of rapid inflation. Negotiations between the two companies resumed and in 1924 they signed an "Agreement of Mutual Interest" valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises standardized design, production, purchasing, sales, and advertising—marketing their automobile models jointly—although keeping their respective brands.

On June 28, 1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as the Daimler-Benz company, baptizing all of its automobiles, Mercedes Benz, honoring the most important model of the DMG automobiles, the 1902 Mercedes 35 hp, along with the Benz name. The name of that DMG model had been selected after ten-year-old Mercédès Jellinek, the daughter of Emil Jellinek who had set the specifications for the new model. Between 1900 and 1909 he was a member of DMG's board of management and long before the merger Jellinek had resigned.

Karl Benz was a member of the new Daimler Benz board of management for the remainder of his life. A new logo was created, consisting of a three pointed star (representing Daimler's motto: "engines for land, air, and water") surrounded by traditional laurels from the Benz logo, and the brand of all of its automobiles was labeled Mercedes Benz. Model names would follow the brand name in the same convention as today.

The next year, 1927, the number of units sold tripled to 7,918 and the diesel line was launched for truck production. In 1928 the Mercedes-Benz SSK was presented.

On April 4, 1929, Karl Benz died at home in Ladenburg at the age of eighty-four from a bronchial inflammation. Until her death on May 5, 1944, Bertha Benz continued to reside in their last home. Members of the family resided in the home for thirty more years. The Benz home now has been designated as historic and is used as a scientific meeting facility for a nonprofit foundation, the Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation, that honors both Bertha and Karl Benz for their roles in the history of automobiles.

In popular culture[link]

In 2011 a dramatized television movie about the life of Karl and Bertha Benz was made named Carl & Bertha which premiered on 11 May^[14] and was aired by Das Erste on 23 May.^[15][16] A trailer of the movie^[17] and a "making of" special were released on YouTube.^[18]

See also[link]

The Benz Patent-Motorwagen Number 3 of 1888, used by Bertha Benz for the first long distance journey by automobile (more than 106 km or sixty miles)

An official license to operate the Benz Patent Motorwagen on the public roads was issued by Großherzoglich Badisches Bezirksamt on August 1, 1888

• Benz (unit)
• Bertha Benz, his wife and automotive pioneer
• Bertha Benz Memorial Route
• German inventors and discoverers
• History of the internal combustion engine

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Benz, Carl (2001). Lebensfahrt eines deutschen Erfinders : meine Erinnerungen / Karl Benz. München: Koehler und Amelang. ISBN 3-7338-0302-7.  (German) (autobiography)[1]

The life of a German inventor: my memories / Karl Benz

• Benz, Carl Friedrich (c1925). Lebensfahrt eines deutschen erfinders; erinnerungen eines achtzigjahrigen. Leipzig: Koehler & Amelang.  (German) (first edition) (bibrec)

The life of a German inventor; memories of an octogenarian

• Elis, Angela: Mein Traum ist länger als die Nacht. Wie Bertha Benz ihren Mann zu Weltruhm fuhr. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-455-50146-9

My dream is longer than the night. How Bertha Benz drove her husband to worldwide fame

• Mercedes-Benz AG (Hrsg.), Benz & Cie.: Zum 150. Geburtstag von Karl Benz, Motorbuch Verlag: Stuttgart, 1994 1. Aufl. 296 S., 492 Abb., 124 in Farbe, ISBN 3-613-01643-5, (German) (biography)

Benz & Cie.: On the Occasion of the 150th Birthday of Karl Benz

• Seherr-Thoss, Hans Christoph, Graf von (1988). Zwei Männer - ein Stern : Gottlieb Daimler und Karl Benz in Bildern, Daten und Dokumenten. Düsseldorf: VDI-Verlag. ISBN 3-18-400851-7.  (German) [2]

Two men - one star: Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz in pictures, data and documents

• Seidel, Winfried A. (2005). Carl Benz : eine badische Geschichte ; die Vision vom "pferdelosen Wagen" verändert die Welt. Weinheim: Ed. Diesbach. ISBN 3-936468-29-X.  (German) (biography) Image of cover. (German) [3]

Carl Benz: a Baden history; the vision of the "horseless car" changes the world

• Siebertz, Paul (1950). Karl Benz : Ein Pionier der Motorisierung. Stuttgart: Reclam.  (German) [4]

Karl Benz : A pioneer of motorization

External links[link]

• Brief biographies of Karl Benz and Bertha Benz, with portraits, an extensive archive, and detailed histories presented at the Mercedes-Benz Museum.[5]
• Mercedes-Benz corporate archives [6], company archives [7], history [8], media management archives [9], and publications [10]
• copies of the honorary doctorate and Baden State medal in gold, both awarded to Karl Benz in his lifetime.
• Das Automuseum Dr. Carl Benz in der alten Benz Fabrik (German) is the Dr. Carl Benz Auto Museum created by a private group in 1996 [11] in a former Benz factory for an ancillary business founded with his sons in Ladenburg, which was separate from his major companies. The company opened in 1906 and closed in 1923, the site has a description of this museum and contemporary photographs [12] with "C. Benz SÖHNE KG" painted on the building, which contains historical photographs, some restored automobiles, and a chronology of the life of Karl Benz
• Karl Benz on 3-wheelers.com
• Bertha Benz Memorial Route
• Prof. John H. Lienhard on BERTHA Benz's RIDE
• The Karl Benz family grave site in Ladenburg The urn contains the ashes of their son, Richard Benz, and the inscription on the gravestone reads:[13]

Dr. Ing. h. c. Karl Benz

Geb. 26. Nov. 1844

Gest. 4. April 1929

Bertha Benz

Geb. Ringer

Geb. 3. Mai 1849

Gest. 4. Mai 1944

• The Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation founded in 1986 at the last residence of Bertha and Karl Benz in Ladenburg.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Carl Benz

James Dennis Alan Hamlin
Born	(1980-11-18) November 18, 1980 (age 31) Tampa, Florida, United States
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	155 lb (70 kg)
Achievements	2006 Budweiser Shootout winner First rookie to qualify for Chase for the Sprint Cup (2006)
Awards	2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
235 race(s) run over 8 year(s)
Car no., team	No. 11 (Joe Gibbs Racing)
2011 position	9th
Best finish	2nd - 2010
First race	2005 Banquet 400 (Kansas)
Last race	2012 Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte)
First win	2006 Pocono 500 (Pocono)
Last win	2012 STP 400 (Kansas)
Wins Top tens Poles 19 118 10
NASCAR Nationwide Series career
134 race(s) run over 9 year(s)
Car no., team	No. 18 (Joe Gibbs Racing)
2011 position	93rd
Best finish	4th - 2006
First race	2004 BI-LO 200 (Darlington)
Last race	2012 History 300 (Charlotte)
First win	2006 Telcel-Motorola 200 (Mexico City)
Last win	2011 Bubba Burger 250 (Richmond)
Wins Top tens Poles 11 79 16
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
13 race(s) run over 7 year(s)
2011 position	84th
Best finish	107th (2004)
First race	2004 Power Stroke Diesel 200 (IRP)
Last race	2011 Ford 200 (Homestead)
First win	2011 Kroger 200 (Martinsville)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 7 0
Statistics current as of May 27, 2012.

James Dennis Alan "Denny" Hamlin (born November 18, 1980)^[1] is an American NASCAR race car driver. He currently drives the No. 11 FedEx Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Sprint Cup Series and the No. 18 Toyota in the Nationwide Series.

Hamlin was born in Tampa, Florida, but lived in Chesterfield, Virginia for most of his childhood. He began racing go-karts at the age of 7. Afterward, he worked his way up to Late Models by 2004 and signed a development contract with Joe Gibbs Racing. After running briefly in the Craftsman Truck Series, Hamlin drove a full season in the Busch Series in 2005, while running a few Nextel Cup races. After having great race finishes, Hamlin was given a full-time ride with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Career[link]

Beginnings[link]

Hamlin began his racing career in 1988, at the age of 7 years old, racing go-karts. By 1997 at 15 he won the WKA manufacturers cup at the age of 16, he was racing Ministocks. In his first stock car race, at Langley Speedway, Hamlin won the pole position, and won the race. He then progressed to the Grand Stock division in 1998, and moved on to Late Model Stock Cars in 2000. In 2002, he won ten Late Model races, and surpassed that in 2003 with 25 wins, and 30 poles, out of 36 races. In 2004, while competing full time in Late Model Stock Cars, Hamlin was signed to a driver development contract with Joe Gibbs Racing.

NASCAR career[link]

Denny Hamlin's #11 FedEx Chevy being inspected at the November 12, 2006 Checker Auto 500

2004–2006[link]

In 2004, Hamlin competed in five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) races with EJP Racing, and had a tenth-place finish in his NASCAR debut at Indianapolis Raceway Park. He later ran his first career ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, finishing third in the #10 Pontiac owned by Andy Hillenburg. His final start of the year came at Darlington Raceway, when he made his Busch Series debut. He started twenty-seventh (rain-out) but finished eighth in the #18 Joe Gibbs Driven Performance Oil Chevrolet.

Hamlin ran the full season in 2005 after he replaced Mike Bliss in the #20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet in the Busch Series. He ended up finishing 5th in the final championship points standings as a rookie in that series, with 11 top 10's and earnings of $1,064,110.00. Hamlin also ran his first Nextel Cup Series races in 2005, making his Cup debut at Kansas Speedway as driver of the #11 FedEx Chevrolet for the 2006 season, after Jason Leffler was released, and made seven starts in in the Cup series in 2005. He finished the Cup season with three top 10 finishes in those seven starts and one pole at Phoenix International Raceway.

In 2006, Hamlin ran his first full season in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, and during the year he drove in both the Nextel Cup and Busch Series full-time. In Hamlin's first restrictor plate race as a Nextel Cup driver, he beat all the previous year's (2005 season) pole winners in the 70-lap 2006 Budweiser Shootout. Hamlin became the first Rookie of the Year candidate to take home the Shootout victory. Hamlin achieved his first career Busch Series victory at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (March 5). On June 11, Hamlin scored his first career Cup Series win at the Pocono 500, where he also won his second career pole. He achieved his second career win on July 23, in the Pennsylvania 500 also at Pocono Raceway becoming only the 2nd rookie in Nextel Cup history to sweep both races at a track during the same season (Jimmie Johnson did so at Dover International Speedway in his rookie season in 2002), both from the pole position. In the Cup Series, Hamlin won the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award and finished third in the final Cup standings, scoring the highest points finish for a rookie in the modern era of NASCAR. Hamlin thus became the first ever rookie to make the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup.^[2]

2007–2008[link]

2008 Nationwide car

Denny Hamlin practicing for the 2007 Ford 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Hamlin started the 2007 Cup season by finishing 28th in the Daytona 500. He won his third career cup race at the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. Hamlin clinched a spot in the Chase for the Cup and was seeded sixth, 50 points behind the leader, but finished 12th overall in the final standings. In the Nationwide Series, Hamlin scored three victories including Darlington, Michigan, and Dover in the #20 Rockwell Automation Chevy.

In 2008, Hamlin had a near identical season as before, but moved up to eighth in points, and won early in the season at Martinsville Speedway. He led 381 out of 410 laps in the 2008 Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400, the most dominant effort of a driver since 2000. but cut a tire and finished 24th. He won three races in the Nationwide Series, driving both the #18 and #20 entries for Gibbs, as well as the #32 Dollar General/Haas Avocados car for Braun Racing.

2009[link]

He continued driving the #11 car in Sprint Cup in 2009, as well as sharing the #20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series. Hamlin won his fifth career race at Pocono Raceway on August 3, 2009. Hamlin boldly stated at the final restart "I'm going to win this race." He followed through on the statement, moving from sixth to first and snapping a 50 race win-less streak. The win was Hamlin's third at Pocono. It was especially emotional for the #11 team as Hamlin had lost his grandmother, Thelma Clark, that Friday.

Hamlin once again dominated the race at Richmond International Raceway and finally won at his home track. On October 25, 2009 Hamlin held off Jimmie Johnson to win the TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Hamlin guaranteed that he would win this race after he came in second in the spring race.

Hamlin then went on to win the Ford 400 at the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, capping off his 2009 season 5th in the overall standings with 4 wins, 15 top 5's and 20 top 10's. Hamlin took the lead after starting the race in 38th position and he led a total of 70 laps to capture his 4th win of the 2009 season. After the 2009 season ended.

2010[link]

Hamlin entered the 2010 season with great expectations. Many^[who?] believed he would be a favorite to unseat Jimmie Johnson as Sprint Cup Champion.

On January 22, 2010, Hamlin tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while playing basketball. The decision was made to postpone his surgery until after the season.

Hamlin announced on March 27, 2010 to have surgery on his left knee the following Monday. The decision was made to prevent further damage to his knee.^[3]

On March 29, 2010, Hamlin won the rain-postponed race at Martinsville Speedway in wild fashion. He beat his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Joey Logano, and Jeff Gordon to the finish line. Two days later, Hamlin had knee surgery to repair the torn ligament in his left knee.

On April 19, 2010, three weeks after his surgery, Hamlin worked his way from a 28th starting spot to restart 2nd with 13 laps to go at Texas Motor Speedway. Hamlin was later able to pass Jeff Burton on the outside and hold off Jimmie Johnson to get his 10th career win and his second win in three races.

Less than three weeks later on May 8, Hamlin visited victory lane for the third time in 2010 at Darlington Raceway. He swept the weekend by winning both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series events. He became the first driver to do so at Darlington since Mark Martin in 1993. He won the Nationwide Series Royal Purple 200 presented by O'Reilly Auto Parts driving the #20 for Joe Gibbs Racing on Friday night. He started on the pole and led the most laps to win the race. Hamlin started 8th in Saturday night's Showtime Southern 500 and went on to lead 108 laps and take the checkered flag. A few races later, Hamlin dominated at The Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 Presented By Target at Pocono Raceway, leading the most laps on his way to gathering his 12th career win, his 4th win of the season, and his fourth win at Pocono. A week later, Hamlin set a career-high fifth win of the season, when he won at Michigan International Speedway after starting 7th.

Later in the 2010 season, Hamlin finished 43rd in the Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, marking the first last-place finish of Hamlin's career. This dropped him five spots in the Chase standings, placing him in 10th overall. Despite the drop in the standings, the top 10 drivers in the Chase were locked in after Atlanta, guaranteeing Hamlin a spot in the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup. A driver error in the first Chase race on part of Carl Edwards caused Hamlin to spin with 85 to go. With cars ahead running out of fuel, Hamlin barely lost to Clint Bowyer. In the AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway Denny drove a great race.^{[says who?]} Dover has always been rough to Hamlin and though he did not lead a lap he went on to finish the race in 9th and retained the points lead by 35 points over Jimmie Johnson. The following week at Kansas Speedway, Hamlin encountered a rough driving car and finished 12th, a finish that was not good enough to keep the points lead, and fell into a deficit of 8 points to Jimmie Johnson, who finished 2nd. Then the following week at California he finished in the top 10 but still lost points to the 48 car of Jimmie Johnson. At Charlotte Motor Speedway, Hamlin led a lap (his first lead in the Chase) and finished in 4th, one spot behind points leader Jimmie Johnson, and lost another 5 points. But the triumph came at the .526-mile (paper clip-shaped) Martinsville Speedway; Hamlin came through with his series-leading seventh victory of the season. Hamlin won the pole and led the first 11 laps but encountered tire issues; he dropped back to 17th and finally worked himself up consistently to 5th until lap 471 with 29 laps to go, he took the lead from Kevin Harvick and held off a hard-charging Mark Martin to lead the final 29 laps and take his 3rd straight victory at Martinsville and his 4th at the historic track. He closed the lead to 6 points behind points leader and 5th place finisher Jimmie Johnson. Next up was the Amp Energy Juice 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway. Denny started 17th, but fell back and lost the draft. He went a lap down, but when a caution came out, he got the Lucky Dog and was back on the lead lap. He then worked his way up to a 9th-place finish, two spots behind points leader Jimmie Johnson. This put Denny another 8 points behind in the standings, totaling to 14. Hamlin won the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, and then led the standings by 33 over Johnson with two races to go. Next was Phoenix International speedway. Denny Hamlin started 14th but got up to the front right away and was leading for almost the whole race. With 14 laps to go, Hamlin had to pit because he was short on fuel. He finished 12th. After the race, Hamlin was furious and threw a water bottle in frustration.^{[citation needed]} With one race to go, Hamlin led Johnson by 15 points and was 46 points ahead of Kevin Harvick. On the last race he lost the lead to Johnson and ended up 39 points behind him.

2011[link]

FedEx Paint scheme

In 2011 Hamlin almost won the Budweiser Shootout, but the victory was taken away from him by Kurt Busch because at the last second, Hamlin crossed the yellow line, on turn four to the finish line, in his attempt to pass Ryan Newman. Denny struggled in the first 8 races where his only top 10 was a seventh at Las Vegas. However, when the series got to Richmond, Denny turned on the heat by winning both his charity event and the Nationwide race but would finish 2nd to teammate kyle busch. He would go on to finish outside of the top 10 once at dover finishing in the top 20 and rebounded with finishes of 10th and 3rd at Charlotte and Kansas respectively. After his 3rd place finish at Kansas, he would climb to 11th in points – 1 point out of the coveted 10th as the series goes to his favorite track, Pocono, where he would have tied himself for the most all-time wins at the track, if he had placed first. After a disappointing 19th place finish, he moved on to Michigan, a track at which he posted a 1st and 2nd place finish in 2010. Before the first practice at Michigan, oil pans unapproved by NASCAR were confiscated from the three JGR teams, including Hamlin. After showing signs of sheer mediocrity during each practice and qualifying, Hamlin qualified 10th in the field. He showed signs of improvement at the very start of the race, Hamlin quickly slid back in the field and was in the 10th to 15th place range until beginning to improve with about 70 laps to go, deeming the adjustment on his loose race car "a magic adjustment" On lap 158, with 42 laps to go, a penalty caused by an accident between Juan Pablo Montoya and Andy Lally allowed Hamlin to move to the front of the field by short pitting. Another caution on lap 192 moved the 11 car up to the first position. After a restart, Hamlin surged to ahead of the group, with Matt Kenseth right behind him in the closing three laps. After desperately trying to move past Hamlin, Kenseth made a final attempt coming out of turn four on the final lap, causing him to almost hit the wall because of a loose racecar. This win vaulted Hamlin from 12th in the standings, where he would have been replaced in the chase by Jeff Gordon if each stayed in their current position, to 9th, where he is guaranteed a spot in the chase. At the end of the season Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Mike Ford would not return as Hamlin's crew chief in 2012.^[4]

2012[link]

Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Darian Grubb will be Mike Ford's replacement as Hamlin's crew chief for the 2012 season. Grubb was previously Tony Stewart's crew chief and led him to his third title. He was released and later replaced by Steve Addington as Stewart's crew chief.

Hamlin scored his first win of the year in the second event on the schedule, at Phoenix International Raceway.^[5]

On April 22nd, Denny out-dueled Martin Truex Jr. to score his second win in the eighth race of the year, at Kansas Speedway.

Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Statistics[link]

(Data as of May 6, 2012^[6])

(* After first 8 races of 2012 season; **after first 8 races of 2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Denny Hamlin at Racing Reference
• Denny Hamlin at Joe Gibbs Racing

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008)

Gottlieb Daimler
Gottlieb Daimler
Born	(1834-03-17)March 17, 1834 Schorndorf, Württemberg
Died	March 6, 1900(1900-03-06) (aged 65)
Nationality	German
Occupation	Engineer, industrialist, automotive pioneer
Known for	Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (Daimler Motors Corporation, DMG)

Gottlieb Daimler (German pronunciation: [ˈɡɔtliːp ˈdaɪmlɐ]; March 17, 1834 – March 6, 1900^[1]) was an engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born in Schorndorf (Kingdom of Württemberg, a federal state of the German Confederation), in what is now Germany. He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and automobile development. He invented the high-speed petrol engine and the first four-wheel automobile.

Daimler and his lifelong business partner Wilhelm Maybach were two inventors whose goal was to create small, high-speed engines to be mounted in any kind of locomotion device. In 1885 they designed a precursor of the modern petrol (gasoline) engine which they subsequently fitted to a two-wheeler, the first internal combustion motorcycle and, in the next year, to a stagecoach, and a boat. Daimler baptized it the Grandfather Clock engine (Standuhr) because of its resemblance to an old pendulum clock.

In 1890, they founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG, in English—Daimler Motors Corporation). They sold their first automobile in 1892. Daimler fell ill and took a break from the business. Upon his return he experienced difficulty with the other stockholders that led to his resignation in 1893. This was reversed in 1894. Maybach resigned at the same time, and also returned. In 1900 Daimler died and Wilhelm Maybach quit DMG in 1907. In 1924, the DMG management signed a long term co-operation agreement with Karl Benz's Benz & Cie., and in 1926 the two companies merged to become Daimler-Benz AG, which is now part of Daimler AG.^{[citation needed]}

Early life (1834 to 1852)[link]

Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler was the son of a baker named Johannes Däumler (Daimler) and his wife Frederika, from the town of Schorndorf near Stuttgart, Württemberg. By the age of 13 (1847), he had completed six years of primary studies in Lateinschule where he had taken additional drawing lessons on Sundays and expressed an interest in engineering.The next year, he started studying gunsmithing, building with his teacher, Riedel, a double-barreled gun.

In 1852 when eighteen, Daimler decided to take up mechanical engineering, and left his hometown.

International experience (1860 to 1863)[link]

In the summer of 1860 Daimler, then aged 26, left Graffenstaden Maschinenfabrik in order to work for the end of 1863 found employment in Geislingen at the metal ware factory of Straub und Sohn, the business that would later become a household name as WMF (Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik).

Daimler later worked at Deutz.

The Otto four-stroke engine (1876)[link]

In 1872 (at age 38), Daimler and Maybach moved to work at the world's largest manufacturer of stationary engines at the time, the Deutz-AG-Gasmotorenfabrik in Cologne. It was half-owned by Nikolaus Otto, who was looking for a new technical director. As directors, both Daimler and Otto focused on gas-engine development while Maybach was chief designer.

In 1876, Otto invented the four-stroke cycle, also known as the Otto Cycle, a system characterized by four piston strokes (intake, compression, power, and exhaust). Otto intended that his invention would replace the steam engines predominant in those years, even though his engine was still primitive and inefficient. Otto's engine was patented in 1877, but the patent was soon challenged and overturned. Unbeknownst to Otto, Daimler, and Maybach, in Mannheim during 1878, Karl Benz was concentrating all his efforts on creating a reliable two-stroke gas engine based on the same principle. Benz finished his engine on December 31, 1878, and was granted a patent for his engine in 1879.

Meanwhile, serious personal differences arose between Daimler and Otto, reportedly with Otto being jealous of Daimler, because of his university background and knowledge. Daimler was fired in 1880, receiving 112 goldmarks in Deutz-AG shares in compensation for the patents of both Daimler and Maybach. Maybach resigned later.

Daimler Motors: small, high-speed engines (1882)[link]

Daimler's summer house (Cannstatt)

After leaving Deutz-AG, Daimler and Maybach started to work together. In 1882, they moved back to Stuttgart in southern Germany, purchasing a cottage in Cannstatt's Taubenheimstrasse, with 75,000 goldmarks from the compensation from Deutz-AG. In the garden, they added a brick extension to the roomy glass-fronted summer house and this became their workshop. Their activities alarmed the neighbors who reported them to the police as suspected counterfeiters. The police obtained a key from the gardener and raided the house in their absence, but found only engines.

Daimler and Maybach spent long hours debating how best to fuel Otto's four-stroke design, and turned to a byproduct of petroleum. The main distillates of petroleum at the time were lubricating oil, kerosene (burned as lamp fuel), and benzine, which up to then was used mainly as a cleaner and was sold in pharmacies.

The grandfather clock engine (1885)[link]

In late 1885,^{[citation needed]} Daimler and Maybach developed the first of their petrol engines, which featured:

• a single horizontal cylinder of 264 cc (16 cu in)^[2] (58×100 mm, 2.28×3.94 in)^[3]
• air cooling
• large cast iron flywheel
• hot tube ignition system (patent 28022)
• cam operated exhaust valves, allowing high speed operation
• 0.5 hp (370 W)^[3]
• 600^{[citation needed]} rpm running speed, beating previous engines, which typically ran at about 120 to 180 rpm
• weight of around 50 kg (110 lb)^[3]
• height of 76 cm (30 in)^[3]

In 1885, they created a carburetor which mixed gasoline with air allowing its use as fuel. In the same year Daimler and Maybach assembled a larger version of their engine, still relatively compact, but now with a vertical cylinder of 100 cc displacement and an output of 1 hp at 600 rpm (patent DRP-28-022: "non-cooled, heat insulated engine with unregulated hot-tube ignition"). It was baptized the Standuhr (Grandfather Clock), because Daimler thought it resembled an old pendulum clock.

The Reitwagen (riding car), the world's first internal combustion motorcycle (1885)

In November 1885, Daimler installed a smaller version of this engine in a wooden two wheeler frame with two outrigger wheels, creating the first internal combustion motorcycle (Patent 36-423impff & Sohn "Vehicle with gas or petroleum drive machine"). It was named the Reitwagen (riding car). Maybach rode it for three kilometers (two miles) alongside the river Neckar, from Cannstatt to Untertürkheim, reaching 12 kilometres per hour (7 mph).

Also in 1885, but unknown to Maybach and Daimler, only sixty miles away in Mannheim, Karl Benz built the first true automobile using an integral design for a motorized vehicle with one of his own engines. He was granted a patent for his motorwagen on January 29, 1886.

On March 8, 1886, Daimler and Maybach secretly brought a stagecoach made by Wilhelm Wafter into the house, telling the neighbors it was a birthday gift for Mrs. Daimler. Maybach supervised the installation of a larger 1.1 hp ^[3] 462 cc (28 cu in)^[3] (70×120 mm, 2.76×4.72 in)^[3] version of the Grandfather Clock engine into this stagecoach and it became the first four-wheeled vehicle to reach 16 kilometres per hour (10 mph). The engine power was transmitted by a set of belts. As with the motorcycle, it was tested on the road to Untertürkheim where nowadays the Mercedes-Benz Arena, formerly called the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, is situated.

Driven by Daimler's desire to use the engine as many ways as possible,^[3] Daimler and Maybach used the engine in other types of transport including:

• on water (1886), by mounting it in a 4.5 metres (15 ft) long boat and achieving a speed of 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph). The boat was called Neckar after the river where it was tested. (patent DRP 39-367). This was the world's first motorboat and boat engines soon would become Daimler's main product for several years. The first customers expressed fear the petrol engine could explode, so Daimler hid the engine with a ceramic cover and told them it was "oil-electrical".
• street-cars and trolleys.
• in the air in Daimler's balloon, usually regarded as the first airship, where it replaced a hand-operated engine designed by Dr. Friedrich Hermann Wölfert of Leipzig. With the new engine, Daimler successfully flew over Seelberg on August 10, 1888.

They sold their first foreign licenses for engines in 1887 and Maybach went as their representative to the 1889 Paris Exposition to show their achievements.

First Daimler-Maybach automobile built (1889)[link]

Engine sales increased, mostly for use in boats, and in June 1887, Daimler bought another property at Seelberg hill, Cannstatt. It was located some distance from the town on Ludwigstraße 67 because Cannstatt's mayor did not approve of the workshop. Built at a cost 30,200 goldmarks, the new premises had room for 23 employees. Daimler managed the commercial issues while Maybach ran the engine design department.

In 1889, Daimler and Maybach built their first automobile that did not involve adapting a horse-drawn carriage with their engine, but which was somewhat influenced by bicycle designs. There was no production in Germany, but it was licensed to be built in France and presented to the public in Paris in October 1889 by both engineers. The same year, Daimler's wife, Emma Kunz, died.

The Phoenix engine (1890 to 1900)[link]

In 1890 Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, was founded with Maybach as chief designer. Its purpose was the construction of small, high-speed engines for use on land, water, and air transport. The three uses were expressed by Daimler in a sketch that became the basis for a logo with a three-pointed star.

Daimler and Maybach were struggling financially, as they were not selling enough engines or making enough money from their patents. Two financiers and munitions makers, Max Von Duttenhofer and William Lorenz, along with the influential banker Kilian von Steiner agreed to inject some capital and on November 28, 1890 ownership was transferred to a public corporation, Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft.

Many German historians consider this Daimler's "pact with the devil".^[4] DMG expanded, but it changed. The newcomers, not believing in automobile production, ordered the creation of additional stationary building capacity, and considered merging DMG with Otto's Deutz-AG.

Daimler and Maybach preferred plans to produce automobiles and reacted against Duttenhofer and Lorenz. Maybach was denied a seat on the board and on February 11, 1891, he left the business. He continued his design work as a freelance in Cannstatt from his own house, with Daimler's support, moving to the closed Hermann Hotel in the autumn of 1892. He used its ballroom and winter garden as workshops, employing twelve workers and five apprentices.

First automobile sold (1892)[link]

In 1892, DMG finally sold its first automobile. Gottlieb Daimler, aged 58, had heart problems and suffered a collapse in the winter of 1892-1893. His doctor prescribed a trip to Florence, where he met Lina Hartmann, a widow 22 years his junior who was the owner of the hotel where he was staying. They married on July 8, 1893, honeymooning in Chicago during its World Fair.

The disputes with Lorenz continued. Daimler attempted to buy 102 extra shares to get a majority holding, but was forced out of his post as technical director. The corporation was 400,000 goldmarks in debt. The other directors threatened to declare bankruptcy if Daimler didn't sell them all his shares and all his personal patent rights from the previous thirty years. Daimler accepted the offer, receiving 66,666 goldmarks, and resigned in 1893.

In 1894 at the Hermann Hotel, Maybach together with Daimler and his son Paul designed a third engine called the "Phoenix" and had DMG make it. It featured:

• four cylinders cast in one block arranged vertically and parallel
• camshaft operated exhaust valves
• a spray nozzle carburetor, patented by Maybach in 1893
• an improved belt drive system

It became famous around the world. When fitted to a car it won the petrol engine category of the first car race in history, the Paris to Rouen 1894. This is probably the same internal-combustion engine referred to by the American author and historian Henry Brooks Adams, who describes the "Daimler motor" and its great speed from his visit to the 1900 Paris Exposition in his autobiography.^[5]

The ill-defined relationship between the inventors and DMG harmed the image of DMG's technical department. This continued until 1894 when the British industrialist Frederick Simms made it a condition of his 350,000 mark purchase of a Phoenix engine license, which would stabilize the corporation's finances, that Daimler, now aged sixty, should return to DMG. Gottlieb Daimler received 200,000 goldmarks in shares, plus a 100,000 bonus. Simms received the right to use the name "Daimler" as his brand name for the engines. In 1895, the year DMG assembled its 1,000th engine, Maybach returned as chief engineer, receiving 30,000 shares.

During this period, they agreed to licenses to build Daimler engines around the world, which included:

• France, from 1890, by Panhard et Levassor and Peugeot
• the United States, from 1891, by American and German piano maker Steinway & Sons^{[citation needed]}
• the United Kingdom, from 1893, by Frederick Simms' Daimler Motor Syndicate transferred in 1896 to the Daimler Motor Company
• Austria, by Austro Daimler

Daimler died in 1900, and in 1907 Maybach resigned from DMG.

Honours[link]

Gottlieb Daimler was accepted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1978. Between 1993 and July 2008 Daimler had a stadium named after him in Stuttgart, Germany. The Mercedes-Benz Arena was the venue for six matches in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Gottlieb Daimler's motto was Das Beste oder nichts ("The best or nothing at all"; "Nothing but the best").^[6]

See also[link]

Design portal

• German inventors and discoverers

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Paul Siebertz: Gottlieb Daimler: ein Revolutionär der Technik. 4. Auflage, Stuttgart, Reclam Verlag, 1950

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gottlieb Daimler

• Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz-Foundation
• Encarta article (Archived 2009-10-31)
• The workaholic who made the automotive revolution possible

v t e Early motorcycles Steam Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede · Roper steam velocipede · Long steam tricycle · Copeland steam bicycle · Geneva steam bicycle · De Dion-Bouton tricycle · Orient tricycle · Thomas steam bicycle . Internal combustion Motrice Pia · Daimler Reitwagen · Butler Petrol-Cycle · Clarke gasoline tricycle · Hildebrand & Wolfmüller Pioneers Pierre Michaux · Louis-Guillaume Perreaux · Sylvester H. Roper · George A. Long · Lucius Copeland · Jules-Albert de Dion · Georges Bouton · Louis Semple Clarke · Edward Butler · Enrico Bernardi · Wilhelm Maybach · Gottlieb Daimler Outline of motorcycles and motorcycling Motorcycle history · Motorized bicycle · Steam tricycle · Timeline of motorized bicycle history

A centenarian is a person who lives to or beyond the age of 100 years. Because current average global life expectancies are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. A supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Even rarer is a person who has lived to age 115; as of April 2012^[update], there are only 27 people in recorded history who have indisputably reached this age.^[1][2][3] In 2009, the United Nations estimated that there were 455,000 living centenarians worldwide.^[4]

Current incidence[link]

A photo of the Canadian centenarian Muriel Duckworth, taken in honor of her 100th birthday in 2008.

The United States currently has the greatest number of centenarians of any nation, estimated at 70,490 on September 1, 2010.^[5] This corresponds to a national incidence of one centenarian per 4,400 people.^[6]

Japan has the second-largest number of centenarians, with an estimated 47,756 as of September 2011.^[7] Japan started its surveys in 1963, at which time the number of Japanese centenarians was found to be 153. This number surpassed the 10,000 mark in 1998, 20,000 in 2003, and 40,000 in 2009. According to a UN Demographic survey, Japan is expected to have 272,000 centenarians by 2050.^[8] However, some sources suggest that the number could be closer to 1 million.^[9] Many experts attribute Japan's high life expectancy to the Japanese diet, which is particularly low in refined simple carbohydrates, and to hygienic practices. In addition, the number of centenarians in relation to the total population was, in September 2010, 114% higher in Shimane Prefecture than the ratio for the whole of Japan. This ratio was also 92% higher in Okinawa Prefecture.^[10][11] In addition to diet, there are four other factors that have been found to increase the life expectancy for Okinawans, as noted later in the "research into centenarians" section of this article.^[12] The incidence of centenarians in Japan was one per 3,522 people in 2008,^[13] although Okinawa again exceeded this average, with one per 1,838 people in 2006.

Centenarian controversy in Japan[link]

The number of Japanese centenarians was called into question in 2010, following a series of reports showing that hundreds of thousands of elderly people had gone "missing" in the country. The deaths of many centenarians had not been reported, casting doubt on the country's reputation for having a large population of centenarians.^{[14][15][16][17]}

In July 2010, a centenarian listed as the oldest living male in Tokyo, registered to be aged 111, was found to have died some 30 years before; his body was found mummified in its bed,^[18] resulting in a police investigation into centenarians listed over the age of 105. Soon after the discovery, the Japanese police further found that at least 200 other Japanese centenarians were missing, with the total likely to rise amid a nationwide search that began in early August 2010.^[19] In one case, the remains of a mother thought to be 104 had been stuffed into her son's backpack for nearly a decade.^[20]

There are growing concerns that Japan's welfare system can be exploited by unscrupulous family members keen to continue receiving benefits after the pensioners die.^[19] In one case, a man received around 9.5 million yen in pension payments despite his wife having died six years previously.^[19]

Centenarian populations[link]

The total number of centenarians in the world remains uncertain. It has been estimated by the Population Division of the United Nations as 23,000 in 1950, 110,000 in 1990, 150,000 in 1995, 209,000 in 2000 and 324,000 in 2005.^[21] There were an estimated 455,000 centenarians in the world in 2009.^[4] However, these estimates do not take into account the recent downward adjustments of national estimates made by several countries, such as the United States.^[22] The following table lists estimated centenarian populations by country, including both the latest and the earliest known estimates, where available.

Traditions[link]

An 1895 photograph of a Chaldean man from Mosul, Iraq, said to be 107 years old.

In many countries, people receive a gift or congratulations on their 100th birthday. In the United States, centenarians traditionally receive a letter from the President, congratulating them for their longevity. NBC's The Today Show show has also named new centenarians on air since 1983. In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms, the Queen sends greetings (formerly as a telegram) on the 100th birthday and on every birthday starting with the 105th. Centenarians born in Ireland receive a €2,540 "Centenarians' Bounty" and a letter from the President of Ireland, even if they are resident abroad.^[50] Japanese centenarians receive a silver cup and a certificate from the Prime Minister of Japan upon their 100th birthday, honouring them for their longevity and prosperity in their lives. Swedish centenarians receive a telegram from the King and Queen of Sweden.^[51] Centenarians born in Italy receive a letter from the President of Italy. In Japan, a "National Respect for the Aged Day" has been celebrated every September since 1966.

An aspect of blessing in many cultures is to offer a wish that the recipient lives to 100. Among Hindus, people who touch the feet of elders are often blessed with "May you live a hundred years". In Sweden, the traditional birthday song states, May he/she live for one hundred years. In Judaism, the term May you live to be 120 years old is a common blessing. In Poland, Sto lat, a wish to live a hundred years, is a traditional form of praise and good wishes, and the song "sto lat, sto lat" is sang on the occasion of the birthday celebrations--arguably, it is the most popular song in Poland and among Poles around the globe. Chinese emperors were hailed to live ten thousand years, while empresses were hailed to live a thousand years. In Italy, "A hundred of these days!" (cento di questi giorni) is an augury for birthdays, to live to celebrate 100 more birthdays.^[52] Some Italians say "Cent'anni!", which means "a hundred years", in that they wish that they could all live happily for a hundred years. In Greece, wishing someone Happy Birthday ends with the expression να τα εκατοστήσεις (na ta ekatostisis), which can be loosely translated as "may you make it one hundred birthdays".

Centenarians in ancient times[link]

While the density of centenarians per capita was much less in ancient times than today, the data suggest that reaching the age of 100 was not unheard of. However, ancient demographics are biased in favor of wealthy or powerful individuals rather than the ordinary person. Grmek and Gourevitch speculate that during the Classical Greek Period, anyone who made it past the age of five years — surviving all the common childhood illness of that day — had a reasonable chance of living to a ripe old age. Life expectancy at 400 B.C. was estimated to be around 30 years of age. One demographer of ancient civilizations reported that Greek men lived to 45 years (based on a sample size of 91), while women lived to 36.2 years (based on a sample size of 55). Curiously, the gender statistics are inverted compared to today, since child-birth was a much more traumatic experience at that time than now, and it certainly skewed female statistics downward. It was common for average citizens to take great care in their hygiene (sanitation), Mediterranean diet (fish, figs, olive oil, wine, etc.), and exercise program (sports/gymnasium), although there was much more male trauma per capita than today, due to military service being virtually universal for citizens. This also biased the statistics for men downward.^[53]

Diogenes Laertius (c. 250) gives one of the earliest references regarding (plausible centenarian) longevity given by a scientist, the astronomer Hipparchus of Nicea (c. 185 – c. 120 B.C.), who, according to the doxographer, assured that the philosopher Democritus of Abdera (c. 470/460 – c. 370/360 B.C.) lived 109 years. All other accounts about Democritus given by the ancients appear to agree on the fact that the philosopher lived over 100 years. Such longevity would not be dramatically out of line with that of other ancient Greek philosophers thought to have lived beyond the age of 90 (e.g.: Xenophanes of Colophon, c. 570/565 – c. 475/470 B.C.; Pyrrho of Ellis, c. 360 - c. 270 B.C.; Eratosthenes of Cirene c. 285 – c. 190 B.C., etc.). The case of Democritus differs from the case of, for example, Epimenides of Crete (7th, 6th centuries B.C.), who is said to have lived an implausible 154, 157 or 290 years, depending on the source.

The sixth dynasty Egyptian ruler Pepi II is believed by some Egyptologists to have lived to the age of 100 or more (c. 2278 BC - c. 2184 BC), as he ruled for 94 years.^[54] However this is under dispute, as others claim the length of his reign was actually 64 years.^[55]

The Indian Sufi poet, Kabir (1398-1518?) is believed by some to have lived to an implausible age of 120 while others believe that he lived for no more than 80 years.

Ultimately, there is no reason to believe that centenarians did not exist 2500 years ago, even if they were not commonplace.^[56]

Hosius of Córdoba, the man who convinced Constantine the Great to call the First Council of Nicaea, reportedly lived to age 102.

The Chronicon of Bernold of Constance records the death in 1097 of Azzo marchio de Longobardia, pater Welfonis ducis de Baiowaria, commenting that he was iam maior centenario.^[57]

Research into centenarians[link]

Research carried out in Italy suggests that healthy centenarians have high levels of vitamin A and vitamin E and that this seems to be important in guaranteeing their extreme longevity.^[58] Other research contradicts this, however, and has found that these findings do not apply to centenarians from Sardinia, for whom other factors probably play a more important role.^[59] A preliminary study carried out in Poland showed that, in comparison with young healthy female adults, centenarians living in Upper Silesia had significantly higher red blood cell glutathione reductase and catalase activities and higher, although insignificantly, serum levels of vitamin E.^[60] Researchers in Denmark have also found that centenarians exhibit a high activity of glutathione reductase in red blood cells. In this study, those centenarians having the best cognitive and physical functional capacity tended to have the highest activity of this enzyme.^[61]

Other research has found that people having parents who became centenarians have an increased number of naïve B cells. It is well known that the children of parents who have a long life are also likely to reach a healthy age, but it is not known why, although the inherited genes are probably important.^[62] A variation in the gene FOXO3A is known to have a positive effect on the life expectancy of humans, and is found much more often in people living to 100 and beyond - moreover, this appears to be true worldwide.^[63]

Men and women who are 100 or older tend to have something else in common, an extraverted personality, says Thomas T. Perls, M.D., M.P.H., the director of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University. Centenarians will often have many friends, strong ties to relatives and a healthy dose of self-esteem.^[64]

Some research suggests that centenarian offspring are more likely to age in better cardiovascular health than their peers.^[65]

In John W. Santrock's book "A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development", there are five factors that research has suggested that are most important to longevity in centenarians:^[12] 1) heredity and family history 2) health, i.e. weight, diet, whether or not a person smokes, amount of exercise 3) education level 4) personality 5) lifestyle.^[12]

Santrock's book also noted that the largest group of centenarians are women who have never been married.^[12] Also, people who have been through traumatic life events, such as Holocaust survivors, learn to cope better with stress and poverty and are more likely to reach centenarian status.^[12]

In Okinawa, Japan, studies have shown five factors that have contributed to the large number of centenarians in that region:^[12]

1. A diet that is heavy on grains, fish, and vegetables and light on meat, eggs, and dairy products.
2. Low-stress lifestyles, which are proven significantly less stressful than that of the mainland inhabitants of Japan.
3. A caring community, where older adults are not isolated and are taken better care of.
4. High levels of activity, where locals work until an older age than the average age in other countries, and more emphasis on activities like walking and gardening to keep active.
5. Spirituality, where a sense of purpose comes from involvement in spiritual matters and prayer eases the mind of stress and problems.^[12]

Although these factors vary from those mentioned in the previous study, the culture of Okinawa has proven these factors to be important in its large population of centenarians.^[12]

See also[link]

• Lists of centenarians
• New England Centenarian Study
• Okinawa Centenarian Study
• Oldest people
• Queensland Community Care Network, which operates the centenarians-only 100+ Club

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Koch, Tina; Kralik, Debbie; Power, Charmaine (2005). 100 Years Old: 24 Australian Centenarians Tell Their Stories. Camberwell, Vic: Viking. ISBN 0-670-02872-X. 

External links[link]

• The Okinawa Centenarian Study
• New England Centenarian Study
• Living to 100 and Beyond: Search for Predictors of Exceptional Human Longevity^{[dead link]}
• Mortality of Centenarians
• U.S. politicians who lived the longest
• Noted Nonagenarians and Centenarians
• Centenarian research & celebration
• Living Beyond 100 - International Longevity Center UK
• Table of numbers of centenarians for select nations, 1960 and 1990
• Centenarians’ Road