Who invented the first gasoline engine?

Nicolaus August Otto and Eugen Langen created the first gasoline engine. At the time, many engines used coal gas or other flammables as fuel, but the Otto design exhibited at the 1867 Paris World Exhibition was the first to be adapted to run on gasoline.

Otto's early designs were atmospheric gas engines, meaning that they ignited gasoline at atmospheric pressures. Later designs used pistons to compress the gas and air mixture for increased performance, and in 1876 Otto developed a four-stroke gasoline engine that became the progenitor of the automobile engine. The first design for a gas-fueled automobile was patented in 1886 by Karl Benz.