List of mechanical engineers

A

• Al-Jazari – polymath, numerous mechanical innovations
• Al-Muradi – mechanical engineer, author of early texts on engineering, inventor w/ Al-Zarqali of the universal astrolabe
• Al-Zarqali – instrument maker, astrologer, and leading astronomers; inventor w/ Al-Muradi of the universal astrolobe
• Archimedes – polymath, inventor of the screw pump
• Richard Arkwright – credited with inventing the spinning frame but most notable for contributions to the modern factory system
• William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong – hydraulic power pioneer, founder of Armstrong Whitworth

  B

• Charles Babbage – creator of the difference engine
• George Herman Babcock – co-invented an improved safety water tube steam boiler, co-founder of Babcock & Wilcox
• Joseph Cyril Bamford – founder of the JCB company, manufacturing heavy plant, and especially backhoes
• Eugenio Barsanti – early developer of internal combustion engine
• Karl Benz – generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered automobile, founder of Mercedes-Benz
• Henry Bessemer – best known as the creator of the Bessemer Process
• John Blenkinsop – steam locomotive pioneer, developed rack and pinion railway system
• Thomas Bouch – railway engineer, helped develop the roll-on/roll-off train ferry
• Matthew Boulton – steam engineer, associate of James Watt
• Joseph Bramah – hydraulic power pioneer and inventor of the hydraulic press
• Isambard Kingdom Brunel – design contributions include the Great Western Railway and the SS Great Eastern
• William Brunton – early steam power pioneer, inventor of the Brunton's Mechanical Traveller
• Oliver Bulleid – railway engineer
• David Bushnell – creator of the Turtle, credited as the first military submarine

  C

• Gerolamo Cardano – numerous mechanical inventions including the combination lock, gimbal, Cardan shaft, and Cardan grille
• Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot – physicist and military engineer
• Willis Carrier – pioneered the design and manufacture of modern air conditioning systems
• Edmund Cartwright – inventor of the first commercial power loom
• George Cayley – aerodynamics pioneer and founding member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
• Colin Chapman – automotive engineer, founder of Lotus Cars
• André Citroën – founder of Citroën automotive, known for application of double-helical gears
• Joseph Clement – best known as the maker of Babbage's difference engine
• Dugald Clerk – inventor of the two-stroke engine
• Demetrius Comino – inventor of Dexion slotted angle steel construction system
• Peter Cooper – designed and built the first American steam locomotive, the Tom Thumb, and founded the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
• William R. Cosentini – founder of Cosentini Associates
• Thomas Russell Crampton – inventor of the Crampton locomotive and an early advocate of the Channel Tunnel
• Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot – early developer of a self-propelled vehicle

  D

• Leonardo da Vinci – polymath
• Claire Deschênes – expert in hydraulic turbine technology, hydrodynamics and fluid mechanics
• Robbie Dickson – worked on optimizing the braking system of supercars
• Rudolf Diesel – inventor of the diesel engine
• Bryan Donkin – associated with paper making and printing machinery, tinned food, beam engines, gas valves and the Babbage difference engine; employed on civil engineering projects such as the Thames Tunnel, Chatham Docks and Caledonian Canal; member of Royal Society of Arts, Institution of Civil Engineers, and the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers; founder member of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Cornelius Drebbel – inventor of the first navigable submarine
• Keith Duckworth – designer of the Cosworth DFV

  E

• Thomas Alva Edison – inventor, entrepreneur
• Chaim Elata - Israeli professor of mechanical engineering, President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and Chairman of the Israel Public Utility Authority for Electricity
• John Ericsson – steam engine design, propeller design, iron clad warships
• Oliver Evans – steam power pioneer and inventor, best known for his "Oruktor Amphibolos"

  F

• William Fairbairn – steam power pioneer, developer of early high-pressure boiler
• Harry Ferguson – agricultural equipment engineer, founder of Ferguson Company
• Giovanni Fontana – fifteenth-century Venetian engineer
• Henry Ford – automotive engineer and industrialist, founder of Ford Motor Company
• Benoît Fourneyron – pioneered early practical water turbine
• Robert Fulton – credited with the development of the first commercial steamboat
• Yuan-Cheng Fung – American bio-engineer, a founding figure of bioengineering, tissue engineering, and the "founder of modern biomechanics"

  G

• Emile Gagnan – co-inventor of the diving regulator used in SCUBA equipment
• Henry Laurence Gantt – inventor of the Gantt chart
• Blasco de Garay – early steam power pioneer and developer of paddle wheels as a substitute for oars
• Herbert William Garratt – inventor of the Garratt system of articulated locomotives
• Daniel Gooch – first chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway
• John Viret Gooch – locomotive superintendent of the London and South Western Railway
• J.E. Gordon – engineering author and developer of composite materials
• George B. Grant – worked on improved calculators and gear industry pioneer
• Nigel Gresley – steam locomotive engineer, developed Gresley conjugated valve gear
• Ravi Grover – Indian nuclear scientist and mechanical engineer; widely given credit for building India's nuclear bomb
• John Josiah Guest – manager of the Dowlais Ironworks, Wales
• Goldsworthy Gurney – inventor and steam power pioneer, known for his Gurney Steam Carriage

  H

• Timothy Hackworth – early steam locomotive designer, associate of William Hedley and George Stephenson
• James Harrison – pioneer in the field of mechanical refrigeration
• William Hedley – railway pioneer, built the first practical steam locomotive relying only on the adhesion of wheels to rails
• Beulah Louise Henry – nicknamed "Lady Edison", patents included a bobbin-free sewing machine and vacuum ice cream freezer
• Hero of Alexandria – described many inventions including the aeolipile and the windwheel
• August Horch – automotive engineer, founder of Audi
• Jonathan Hornblower – steam power pioneer, developed the first compound steam engine
• Elias Howe – refined Hunt's ideas, was granted the first U.S. patent for a sewing machine using a lockstitch design

  I

• Alec Issigonis – automotive engineer associated with the development of the Mini

  J

• Joseph Marie Jacquard – invented the Jacquard loom, forerunner of modern digital computers
• György Jendrassik – developed first working turboprop engine

  L

• Frederick Lanchester – polymath with contributions in automotive and aviation engineering, co-founder of Lanchester Motor Company
• Gustaf de Laval – developer of the De Laval nozzle, contributions in steam and dairy engineering, founder of Alfa Laval
• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz – polymath who invented, among other things, the Leibniz wheel

  M

• Ma Jun – 3rd-century China, invented the south-pointing chariot, mechanical puppet theaters, chain pumps, improved silk looms
• Felice Matteucci – early developer of internal combustion engine
• Henry Maudslay – considered a founding father of machine tool technology, helped perfect the hydraulic press
• Elijah McCoy – African Canadian inventor, contributions include automatic lubricator for steam engines
• Andrew Meikle – contributions include threshing machine and windmill sails
• Otto Metzger – German/British engineer and inventor of impact extrusion of containers
• Thomas Midgley, Jr. – developed tetraethyllead and chlorofluorocarbons
• Samuel Morey – steamship and internal combustion engine pioneer
• James Morgan – Applied Materials CEO
• William Murdoch – associate of Watt, improved steam engine, also developed gas lighting
• Gordon Murray – Formula One, Brabham BT46B, McLaren F1
• Matthew Murray – steam engine designer, built one of the first commercially viable steam locomotives

  N

• James Nasmyth – inventor of the steam hammer and other important machine tools
• Thomas Newcomen – inventor of the first practical steam engine for pumping water
• James Henry Northrop – invented shuttle-charging mechanism which led to the fully automatic Northrup Power Loom

  O

• Nicolaus Otto – developer of the first commercially viable four-stroke engine

  P

• Denis Papin – inventor of the steam digester, forerunner of the steam engine
• Charles Algernon Parsons – steam and power engineer, inventor of compound steam turbine
• Ferdinand Porsche – automotive engineer, best known for creating the Volkswagen Beetle

  Q

• Muhammad Hafeez Qureshi – weapons scientist, aerodynamicist, rocket engineer and missile technologist

  R

• Agostino Ramelli – inventor of the bookwheel as well as various water-powered inventions
• John Ramsbottom – inventor of the tamper-proof spring safety valve and the displacement lubricator
• William John Macquorn Rankine – major contributor to thermodynamics, heat engine theory and metal fatigue
• George Rennie – among other developments, a pioneer in food processing equipment
• Osbourne Reynolds – major contributor to the science of fluid dynamics and heat transfer
• Harry Ricardo – internal combustion engine designer and researcher
• Richard Roberts – developer of high-precision machine tools which helped enable mass production
• Alfred H. Rzeppa – developer of the constant-velocity joint

  S

• Ralph Sarich – invented orbital engine
• Thomas Savery – early steam engine patent holder, author of A Miner's Friend; or An Engine to Raise Water by Fire
• Per Georg Scheutz – pioneer in computer technology
• Dan Shechtman – discovered Icosahedral Phase
• Carl Wilhelm Siemens – inventor of the regenerative furnace
• Igor Sikorsky – aviation engineer, inventor of the single-rotor helicopter, founder of Sikorsky Aircraft Company
• Isaac Singer – credited with improvements in lockstitch sewing machine, founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Company
• John Smeaton – principally a civil engineer, but made numerous improvements to Newcomen's steam engine
• Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester, – numerous mechanical innovations as described in "Century of Inventions"
• Sir William Stanier – Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
• George Stephenson – known as the "father of railways", founder of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
• Robert Stephenson – railway engineer; son of George Stephenson
• Robert Stirling – inventor of the Stirling engine
• Su Song China – first to use an escapement mechanism and chain drive to operate his astronomical clock tower
• Dr. Victor Szebehely – aerospace engineering and celestial mechanics

  T

• Taqi al-Din – polymath, numerous mechanical innovations
• Nikola Tesla – Serbian electrical and mechanical engineer contributing to the development of AC motors and power delivery
• Torine Torines – pioneer Swedish sewing machine mechanic engineer
• John Tregoning – American mechanical engineer, who wrote the first books on factory management
• Richard Trevithick – steam power pioneer, designer of early high-pressure boiler and "Puffing Devil" locomotive

  U

V

• Jacques de Vaucanson – credited with creating early robots as well as the automated loom
• Richard Velazquez – automotive designer for Honda R&D Americas, Inc. and Porsche AG
• Sir M Vishweswarayya – chief designer, flood protection systems, Hyderabad; chief engineer, Krishna Raja Sagara dam, Mandya
• Wernher Von Braun – mechanical engineer, space architect credited with inventing the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany and the Saturn V for the United States

  W

• Felix Wankel – inventor of the Wankel Rotary Engine
• James Watt – inventor of the Watt steam engine whose development helped enable the Industrial Revolution
• Samuel T. Wellman – inventor and industrialist responsible for numerous steel industry innovations
• Eli Whitney – inventor of the cotton gin
• Joseph Whitworth – associated with standardizing thread pitch and techniques enabling precision machining
• Martin Wiberg – computer technology pioneer
• Walter Gordon Wilson – inventor of the Wilson preselector gearbox
• Ludwig Wittgenstein – aerospace engineer turned philosopher
• Nathaniel C. Wyeth – developed polyethylene terephthalate beverage container

  Y

• Yi Xing China – first to use an escapement mechanism in operating a water-powered armillary sphere

  Z

• Zhang Heng – 1st century-2nd century China, inventor of first hydraulic-powered armillary sphere, and first seismometer