John German
American engineer
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John German is an American physicist who is the US co-lead of the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). In that role, his research helped uncover the Volkswagen emissions scandal of 2015.[1] German was investigating what he thought[a] would be relatively clean diesel emissions in US cars, where standards are more strict than in Europe. The hope was to eventually improve the diesel emissions of European vehicles.[1] After the results were published, which showed VW nitric oxide emissions were exceeding US standards by as much as 35 times,[2][b] further work uncovered a VW defeat device. In light of the discovery and scandal, German recommends that other car manufacturers be investigated for installing potential defeat devices.[1] German has a degree in physics from the University of Michigan, is married, and makes what The Guardian called a "modest salary" in his role at the ICCT.[2]