Karl Benz

About Karl Benz

Karl Benz (1844–1929) was a pioneering German mechanical engineer renowned as the inventor of the first practical automobile powered by an internal combustion engine, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, built in 1886. This foundational contribution to personal transportation and the entire automotive industry secures his place as a figure of immense global cultural impact, ranking him #193 in MIT's Historical Popularity Index.

Despite this profound historical significance, Benz currently experiences a notable attention deficit online. His Wikipedia page accrued only 53K annualized views in 2025, resulting in an Attention Gap score of -9x, indicating he receives nine times less attention than his historical importance would suggest. To put this into stark contrast, a contemporary inventor like Alexander Graham Bell, ranked #397 in importance, commanded 1.1 million views in the same year.

Furthermore, the negative trend in attention is continuing, as evidenced by his 2025 annualized view change of -22.9% year-over-year, and a sharp -38% drop in momentum between the first and third quarters of the year, suggesting a rapidly diminishing modern cultural footprint.