About Ferdinand Porsche
Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner-Porsche), the Volkswagen Beetle, the Auto Union racing cars, the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, and several other important developments and Porsche automobiles. An important contributor to the war effort of Nazi Germany during World War II, Porsche was involved in the production of advanced tanks such as the VK 45.01 (P), the Elefant (initially called "Ferdinand") self-propelled gun, and the Panzer VIII Maus super-heavy tank, as well as other weapon systems, including the V-1 flying bomb. Porsche was a member of the Nazi Party and an honorary Oberführer of the Allgemeine SS. He was a recipient of the German National Prize for Art and Science, the SS-Ehrenring and the War Merit Cross. Porsche was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996 and was named the Car Engineer of the Century in 1999. During his five years with Béla Egger, he built their first electric wheel-hub motor, the concept for which had been developed by American inventor Wellington Adams, and Porsche also raced it, in 1897. Even though this one-off vehicle had been commissioned for racing and record-breaking, its 1,800 kg (4,000 lb) of lead-acid batteries was a severe shortcoming.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.