François Isaac de Rivaz (Paris, December 19, 1752 – Sion, July 30, 1828) was an inventor from Switzerland. He is credited with the construction in 1806 of the first internal combustion engine, powered by a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen. He continued to build a rudimentary automobile powered by it in 1807. [1][2] He also experimented with steam-powered vehicles in the late 18th century.[3] It is reported that this engine was built, but was not commercially successful. Although there was a certain degree of early work on the idea of the internal combustion engine, development truly began in earnest in the mid-nineteenth century. Gasoline was not used for internal combustion engines until 1870.
^US patent 7137366 Page 10: : In the early nineteenth century, Francois Isaac de Rivaz of Switzerland invented a hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine.
