This Dayton native did some very good things as an inventor. He developed the first electric cash register for his company, NCR. He founded DELCO to create electric starters for cars. He also, um, "solved" engine knock by adding tetraethyl lead in gasoline, which did solve some serious issues in aviation fuel during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1998, a university in Flint, Michigan, formerly the General Motors Institute, was renamed in his honor.
Charles Kettering