Charles Kettering was an American engineer and inventor who created the electric self-starter for cars, which meant drivers no longer had to crank their engines by hand. He led research at General Motors for many years, holding more than 180 patents for inventions ranging from engines to medical devices, and later co-founded the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research with GM chairman Alfred P. Sloan. He believed failures were simply practice for success, and his sayings about problem-solving are still quoted by inventors today.