# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/nikolaus-otto
# Generated: 2026-09-02T06:06:06.866Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/nikolaus-otto"
name: "Nikolaus Otto"
slug: "nikolaus-otto"
description: "The engine under the hood of nearly every car on earth still bears his design logic. Otto cracked the core problem: how to make fuel explode at exactly the right moment, in exactly the right space, and turn that violence into motion you could control."
tagline: "German inventor (1832–1891)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Nicolaus-August-Otto.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "Germany"
  isoCode: "DE"
category:
  name: "Scientists"
  slug: "scientists"
profileType:
  name: "Scientist"
  slug: "scientist"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1832-06-10"
deathDate: "1891-01-26"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           59.3
  momentum:             20.18029278684906
  historical:           23.06086666666667
  currentAttention:     20.08512352309344
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "RISING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Scientists"
    slug: "scientists"
  - name: "Scientist"
    slug: "scientist"
  - name: "Science"
    slug: "science"
  - name: "19th Century"
    slug: "19th-century"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q75782"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_Otto"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Nikolaus%20Otto"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%86%DB%8C%DA%A9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B3_%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%88"
    title: "نیکلاوس اوتو"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_Otto"
    title: "Nikolaus Otto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be_x_old.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D1%96%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8F%D1%9E%D1%81_%D0%9E%D1%82%D0%B0"
    title: "Нікаляўс Ота"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D1%96%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%83%D1%81_%D0%9E%D1%82%D0%B0"
    title: "Нікалаус Ота"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%83%D1%81_%D0%9E%D1%82%D0%BE"
    title: "Николаус Ото"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B8_%E0%A6%85%E0%A6%9F%E0%A7%8B"
    title: "নিকোলাস অটো"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Otto"
    title: "Nicolaus Otto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_Otto"
    title: "Nikolaus Otto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Otto"
    title: "Nicolaus Otto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_August_Otto"
    title: "Nikolaus August Otto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Otto"
    title: "Nicolaus Otto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%9D%CE%AF%CE%BA%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%B1%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%82_%CE%8C%CF%84%CF%84%CE%BF"
    title: "Νίκολαους Όττο"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Otto"
    title: "Nicolaus Otto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_Otto"
    title: "Nikolaus Otto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Otto"
    title: "Nicolaus Otto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_Otto"
    title: "Nikolaus Otto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_Otto"
    title: "Nikolaus Otto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%86%DB%8C%DA%A9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B3_%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%88"
    title: "نیکلاوس اتو"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Otto"
    title: "Nicolaus Otto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_Otto"
    title: "Nikolaus Otto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_Otto"
    title: "Nikolaus Otto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A1_%D7%90%D7%95%D7%98%D7%95"
    title: "ניקולאוס אוטו"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%B8_%E0%A4%91%E0%A4%9F%E0%A5%8B"
    title: "निकोलस ऑटो"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B3_%D8%A3%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%88"
    title: "نيكولاس أوتو"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B3_%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%88"
    title: "نيكولاس اوتو"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Nicolaus August Otto was born in Germany on 10 June 1832. He trained as an engineer and spent years wrestling with the problem of internal combustion — how to harness controlled explosions for practical work. His breakthrough came with the compressed charge engine that ran on petroleum gas, a design that timed a spark to ignite a fuel-air mixture at the precise moment of compression. The principle was so fundamental that the Association of German Engineers eventually codified it as DIN standard 1940, defining the "Otto Engine" as any internal combustion engine using timed spark ignition of a compressed charge. He died on 26 January 1891, decades before his architecture became the default heart of the automobile age.