Charles F. Kettering

Before Kettering's invention, automobile engines were started by hand cranking, which was physically demanding and caused numerous injuries and fatalities when engines backfired and spun the crank violently. Kettering's electric starter, introduced by Cadillac in 1912, eliminated this danger and made cars accessible to a much broader population.

Charles Kettering developed the electric self-starter while at Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco), and Cadillac first offered it on its 1912 model year vehicles. The collaboration between Kettering's Delco and Cadillac marked a turning point in automotive history.

Kettering held over 186 patents and is credited with developing leaded gasoline (tetraethyl lead) at General Motors, Duco automotive lacquer paint, and the automotive electric lighting system. He also led GM's research division from 1920 to 1947, overseeing developments in diesel locomotives and refrigerants.

Yes, Kettering and his assistant Thomas Midgley Jr. developed tetraethyl lead as an anti-knock gasoline additive in the 1920s at General Motors Research. Though it improved engine performance, leaded gasoline was later found to cause severe health and environmental damage, and was phased out of US gasoline starting in the 1970s and fully banned for on-road use in 1996.