born Aug. 29, 1876, Loudonville, Ohio, U.S.
died Nov. 25, 1958, Dayton, Ohio
U.S. engineer.
In 1904 he developed the first electric cash register. With Edward Deeds he founded Delco 0441; . 1910; in 1916 Delco became a subsidiary of General Motors Corp., and Kettering served as vice president and director of research for GM (192047). Many of his inventions were instrumental in the evolution of the modern automobile, including the first electric starter (1912), antiknock fuels, leaded gasoline, quick-drying lacquer finishes (with Thomas Midgley, Jr. ), the high-speed, two-cycle diesel engine, and a revolutionary high-compression engine (1951). He later cofounded the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York City.