It's a bit hard to stick the name of the inventor on the car. It is even thought that the ancient Egyptians had wagons that were pushed forward by the wind thanks to sails. But many claim Ferdinand Verbiest as the inventor of the car. In 1672 he designed the first motorized vehicle.
Ferdinand Verbiest was born in 1623 in the village of Pittem, near Kortrijk. The inventor of the car was therefore a Belgian! In 1641, Verbiest joined the Jesuits. He went to Seville where he went to study theology. He completed those studies in Rome where he also studied astronomy. Verbiest wanted to do missionary work in Central America, but that never happened. He was sent by the church to the Far East where the people were urged to convert to Catholics because Protestantism was on the rise in Europe.
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| Ferdinand Verbiest |
Verbiest was much more than a missionary in China, he was involved in mathematics and astronomy and proved at the court of Emperor Kangxi that European astronomy was much more accurate than Chinese. He also improved the Chinese calendar and was later asked to help build the old Beijing observatory and then add to it. There he became, among other things, head of the mathematical administration and head of the observatory. He became good friends with Emperor Kangxi, who asked him to help him learn about geometry, philosophy, and music.
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| The first car ever design |
Verbiest also experimented with steam. Around 1672 he made a cart for the emperor that worked on steam. It was most likely the first "vehicle" that worked on steam. Although it was only 65 cm in size, it was never intended to carry human passengers. It was more a scale model that served as a toy for the emperor. It is not known whether this scale model has been worked out in actual size.