Here's a brief timeline of important contributors:
* 1680: Christian Huygens proposes using gunpowder to power an engine.
* 1791: John Barber patents a gas turbine engine design.
* 1807: François Isaac de Rivaz builds a crude internal combustion engine that uses hydrogen and oxygen.
* 1824: Samuel Brown builds a gas-powered engine.
* 1854: Émile Lenoir builds a two-stroke internal combustion engine.
* 1860: Étienne Lenoir patents the first commercially successful internal combustion engine.
* 1862: Alphonse Beau de Rochas publishes a paper describing a four-stroke engine cycle, but doesn't build one.
* 1876: Nikolaus Otto successfully builds a four-stroke engine based on de Rochas's design, leading to the modern internal combustion engine.
Therefore, while Nikolaus Otto is often considered the inventor of the internal combustion engine, it was the result of centuries of research and development by many individuals.
