Creation

• Cutaway of a modern turbocharger
  
  Dr. Alfred J. Büchi developed the first exhaust-driven turbocharger in Switzerland around 1905 and filed for a patent not long after. His ideas gained little or no acceptance at that time, but by the 1920s, diesel ships and locomotives were beginning to incorporate a form of his turbocharger. It took nearly 10 years for a non-diesel turbocharged engine to appear, and it was in a surprising application.
  
  

Aviation Beginnings

• Pike's Peak, Colorado
  
  The first successful application of the turbocharger was actually not in an automobile at all. In 1918, an engineer with General Electric integrated a turbo into the engine of a V12 Liberty airplane. It was tested at 14,000 feet at Pike's Peak in Colorado to prove that power losses experienced in standard engineers at high altitude and reduced air pressure could be eliminated. It was a success, but it caused little interest in the aviation community until a defined need appeared to spur further development.
  
  

The World Wars

• A turbocharged B-17 bomber
  
  Although the French tried out turbochargers on some of their fighters during World War I, it was in the 1930's and 1940's during World War II that development really took hold in both Europe and the United States. In order to improve aircraft altitude limits for the war, turbochargers were added to the most advanced airplanes of the day and ultimately assisted in the eventual Allied victory.
  
  

Later Innovations

• A typical modern diesel truck
  
  After the war, turbochargers became most readily available in diesel trucking and have come to dominate that industry ever since. In 1962, however, the first passenger car was released with a turbocharger, the Oldsmobile Cutlass Jetfire and the Chevrolet Corvair Monza Spyder, but they were found to be unreliable. The first successful automobiles, the Mercedes Benz 300 SD and the VW Golf Turbodiesel were released in 1981 and ongoing advancement continues to the modern day.
  
  

Today

• A turbo driven passenger car
  
  Diesel engines are now relatively exclusive in their use of turbochargers. Whereas performance improvement initially drove the turbocharging revolution, fuel consumption and emissions control have become the main focus today and are leading further development into the future.