Václav Laurin (16 October 1865, Kamení near Pěnčín – 3 December 1930,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

, industrialist and automotive pioneer who, along with

Václav Klement Václav Klement (October 16, 1868, Velvary – August 13, 1938, Mladá Boleslav) was a Czech automotive pioneer, co-founder of Laurin & Klement, what is now Škoda Auto. Early life Klement had an unhappy childhood. His mother died when he was ...

, founded automobile manufacturer Laurin & Klement that later became today's

Škoda Auto Škoda Auto a.s. (), often shortened to Škoda, is a Czech automobile manufacturer established in 1925 as the successor to Laurin & Klement and headquartered in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic. Škoda Works became state owned in 1948. After 1 ...

Career

He apprenticed as a locksmith in Mladá Boleslav, where, in 1895, he and

founded the company Laurin & Klement (now

). At the beginning of December 1895, the mechanic Václav Laurin and the book-seller Václav Klement, both bicycle enthusiasts, started manufacturing bicycles of their own design, patriotically named Slavia in the

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

atmosphere of the end of the 19th century. In 1905, Laurin manufactured their first

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

. Today, the company enjoys worldwide popularity under the brand Škoda Auto. Laurin was prominently engaged in the automobile company Laurin & Klement, together with his collaborator Václav Klement, co-founder of the company. He participated in the construction of vehicles there. In his later years, he was the

technical director A technical director (TD) is usually a senior technical person within e.g. a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company or television studio. This person usually has the highest level of skill within a specific technical f ...

of Škoda Auto.

References

External links

* * 1865 births 20th-century Czech businesspeople Czech engineers European founders of automobile manufacturers Czech automotive pioneers Škoda people 1930 deaths 19th-century Czech businesspeople {{CzechRepublic-business-bio-stub