Kettering, Charles (Franklin) (1876–1958)

US engineer and inventor. He developed the first electrical ignition system and the first self-starter for automobiles. In 1920 he became president and general manager of General Motors Research, and for the next 30 years he led teams that developed improved motor fuels, shock absorbers, variable speed transmissions, safety glass, and the refrigerant Freon.

He was born near Loudonville, Ohio. A 1904 graduate of Ohio State University, he worked for the National Cash Register Co. until 1909, when he and a partner set up the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co., later known as Delco, which he sold to General Motors in 1916. With Alfred Sloan, he endowed the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research.