Condoleezza Rice

Full Name: Dr. Condoleezza Rice
Date of Birth: November 14, 1954
Place of Birth: Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Died: N/A
Place of Death: N/A
Classification: Leaders & Revolutionaries

Born and raised in the southern United States where the process of desegregation caused much strife for the African American communities, Condoleezza Rice was brought up by her minister father and school teacher mother. As a member of the middle-class of the period, she was able to take classes focusing on languages, arts, and dance. Her parents wanted the best for her. Now she, in turn, wants the best for a nation that allowed her to become one of the most respected and powerful women in the world.

Amongst the struggles of her early childhood were the Jim Crow laws that separated African Americans from whites in public domains – namely on the bus, in restaurants, theaters, cinemas, and even bathrooms. While she was always told to be proud of her heritage, as an engaging child, she wondered why she and her family had to often live in fear.

She soon moved with her family to Denver, which was much more accepting of African Americans holding high positions. Condoleezza’s father held a position at the University of Denver and young Rice attended a Catholic school where she received a top-notch private education. Her father soon became a dean at the University and that is when Condoleezza began studying there.

Earning her B.A. in only a couple of years, she went on to receive a Master’s Degree from the University of Notre Dame in political science, which saw her as an instant candidate to work for the United States Department. By the time she was 26, she had earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from Denver. Following, she worked at Stanford University and Dr. Rice soon became Provost Rice and was in charge of the school’s multi-billion dollar endowment.

When George W. Bush began running for president, Condoleezza Rice became active in his campaign and rose to become his foreign policy advisor. After Bush won the presidency, Rice became a proponent of the invasion of Iraq. She became Bush’s National Security Advisor in 2004 and with the resignation of Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice became the U.S. Secretary of State.

Christopher Columbus

Full Name: Mr. Cristoforo Colombo (Italian); Cristóbal Colón (Spanish)
Date of Birth: 1451
Place of Birth: Genoa, Italy
Died: May 20, 1506
Place of Death: Valladolid, Spain
Classification: Heroes & Icons

Known for the discovery of the New World in 1492 with the three ships the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, Christopher Columbus would travel back and forth from the Americas at least four times in his life. He had amazing tales of different peoples, customs, spices, riches and wealth for anyone who joined him. He also had to garnish support for each one of his voyages before he became the first ruler of the West Indies where he was actually considered a tyrant.

Not much is known of his early life or of his exact ancestry, but he vehemently defended that he was Italian. His writings reveal he was well educated and to be of Italian aristocratic lineage. It was these claims, along with his navigational theories in regard to the closer distance of Asia by sailing west, which eventually gained him support from Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand for exploration. It took seven years of convincing and preparation until Columbus would be given the green light to amass a crew and start sailing with the financial backing from private investors.

Christopher Columbus was removed from his post after his first voyage due to complaints regarding his cruel leadership. On his first voyage, Columbus was the first to land on what is known today as the island of San Salvador. The natives were quite friendly, knew nothing of modern weaponry, and apparently “had no God”. He liked the island because he believed the natives would make good workers, slaves, and Christians without much fuss. Additionally, the island was rich in exotic materials including silk, gold, skins, and wildlife.

On his second crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, Columbus landed on what is now the Dominican Republic. He also visited several surrounding isles, including the Virgin Islands. Returning to visit the colonists he had left behind on his first voyage, he found them in dire straights. They were not happy and had not attained any wealth. In fact, they were disputing and even fighting with the natives over land, services, and goods.

After bringing back slaves to Spain, against Isabella’s wishes, many of them were either returned or kept as citizens under the monarchy. It was during his fourth voyage that Columbus was shipwrecked on Jamaica for more than a year. He was able to keep the people under his control by predicting the changes in the night sky. He was then rescued and made governor of Valladolid, Spain where he was known as a ruthless leader.

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Charles Merrill

Full Name: Mr. Charles Edward Merrill
Date of Birth: October 19, 1885
Place of Birth: Green Cove Springs, Florida, USA
Died: October 6, 1956
Place of Death: Southampton, New York, USA
Classification: Builders & Titans

Known as a great salesman and recognized for bringing investing to the average man, Charles Merrill had ideas that set him apart from any Wall Street guru of the day. While his friends coined him ‘Good Time Charlie Merrill’, he took investing seriously, even advising his clients to sell their stocks after predicting the Great Depression.

Born to a physician, young Charles attended John B. Stetson in Florida then Amherst College. Little known knowledge is that Merrill was an avid baseball player and tried at the semi-professional level. Not able to make ends meet financially, he tried working in the newspaper industry and even attempted law school; however, he found them unfulfilling. He finally landed a job with a textile firm as a regular office boy. The business world intrigued him so much that within two years he had worked his way up to director of the company. By 1910, Merrill created a bond department and oversaw its management. He was doing so well that Wall Street took notice. Not wanting to limit himself to one type of business, Merrill became a sales correspondent and manager of a firm that already had its place on Wall Street.

Within one year, Charles Merrill saw he could probably do better on his own in the investment world. He was rather gifted at analyzing and choosing stocks, and offering solid investing advice to new companies joining the market. As a result, he started his own company: Charles E. Merrill & Co. After doing well from the get-go, Merrill would be offered greater assets if he could find a business partner. One month after the savvy Edmund Lynch joined the team, the company came to be known as Merrill Lynch & Co.

Merrill and Lynch began underwriting stock options for chain stores, in which the two faired very well. Through underwriting and by accepting stocks as commission, Merrill and Lynch not only built up their business wealth, but their private wealth too. Merrill soon became the biggest shareholder in Safeway Foods, Inc. and worked to spread the grocery store all over the US. Within twenty years, Safeway Foods was on its way to becoming the nation’s largest grocery supplier.

Predicting the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Merrill sold most of his stocks and retired from the Market. But within ten years, he was back in business and united Merrill Lynch & Co. with other top names in the business to become the largest brokerage firm in the world. Charles Merrill worked hard to bring Wall Street to Main Street, which was his slogan. He wanted to spread his financial knowledge of the stock market to every household in the U.S., and with nearly 100 offices nationwide, he sent out pamphlets, brochures, and held seminars about the joys and simplicity of investing. He would explain that it wasn’t just a game for the wealthy, but a way for the average, middle-class man to make great profits over time. In his will, Charles Merrill left nearly six million dollars to institutions to offer classes on free enterprise to students and the public.

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Charles Babbage

Full Name: Mr. Charles Babbage
Date of Birth: December 26, 1791
Place of Birth: London, England
Died: October 18, 1871
Place of Death: London, England
Classification: Scientists & Thinkers

Now a realized genius of his era, Charles Babbage was an inventor, mathematician, philosopher, and a pioneer in the way that analysis of data in production systems should be read. His designs and thought processes established the basis for the binary language of modern digital computers. His whole life he attempted to get funding to support his projects from the government of England, but after many years delay and red tape, he was never given the full opportunity to explore his ideas to their potential.

Born in England, Charles was lucky enough to receive private tutoring during his younger years. When he went to Trinity College, he was turned off by the sort of math that was taught, so he decided to form his own math group known as the Analytical Society who would apply scientific logic and thought to test mathematical ideas of the time.

Charles Babbage always had a dream of constructing a machine that would not only produce mathematical tables, but would calculate the most finite of differences in those calculations. He would call it a difference engine and while he took his ideas down many possible avenues in order to get funding, his dreams were never fully realized. He was able to invent a small calculator that gave exact numerals to eight decimals and later worked on one that would calculate those to beyond 20 decimals.

By 1830, Babbage wanted to build an analytical engine that many describe nowadays as the first digital computer. This machine would store numbers, perform calculations based on punch cards, and provide sequential control. While his machine was never completely built, the design was found completed in his own notebooks. Interestingly, during this time, he served as a professor and helped the government with problems they were facing, such as finding a solution to the expanding postal system. He wrote and published about mathematics, and commentaries on the social stagnation of science and math in England. He also wrote and studied much about religion, language, art, and even helped in designing and modeling submarines. Although his autobiography was never written, England had much they owed to Charles Babbage. His insight and prodding helped England pick up their own pace, especially in math.

Bertrand Russell

Full Name: Mr. Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell of Kingston Russell
Date of Birth: May 18, 1872
Place of Birth: Trelleck, Monmouthshire, Wales
Died: February 2, 1970
Place of Death: Penrhyndeudraeth, Merioneth, Wales
Classification: Scientists & Thinkers

Considered one of the greatest philosophers and prolific writers in numerous fields, Bertrand Russell eventually became a social reformer after he dedicated most of his life to explaining the paradoxes in logic in mathematics. He would soon turn away from what was called the Russell Paradox, move to the United States, and attempt to secure posts at several universities. Eventually, Russell wrote a best-selling book that would give him the freedom to expand his own philosophical horizons. He would go on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 for his many works.

Born in Wales in the early 1870s, Bertrand Russell was raised in an aristocratic family. Tragically, however, his parents died when he was very young and his grandparents thereafter raised him. Russell’s grandfather with whom he lived served twice as the prime minister to Queen Victoria. Educated at home, Russell admits that he was lonely, but found solace at an early age in the study of mathematics – something logical with answers.

After attending Trinity College, he remained as a lecturer in various fields of philosophy. Due to his social standpoints against war, he was released from his post. When asked to join again later, he did and was honored for his work. Bertrand Russell married four times, but it was in his first marriage that his mathematical philosophy began to evolve. He worked on his gargantuan project entitled Principles of Mathematics. He wanted to prove that mathematics and logic were of the same field – math, a true extension of logic.

Russell spent several months in prison for voicing his opinions about war, especially against the British and American armies. While incarcerated, he wrote another paper, an opening for his book about mathematical philosophy. After his sentence, he visited China and Russia and drew his own conclusions about those governments. His controversial book, The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism laid the groundwork for political theory in the area for decades to follow.

Bertrand Russell spent a lot of time in the United States lecturing and even took posts at various schools, sparking controversy for his beliefs about morals in marriage as revealed in his publication in 1929 entitled Marriage and Morals. He moved to Pennsylvania and worked on his book entitled the History of Western Philosophy, which sold well.

ack in England, Russell joined Trinity College again and won an Order of Merit. And, in 1950, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature for tackling social issues and vying for freedom of thought across the globe. Later in his life, he led pacifist movements against World War II, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and against the Vietnam War.

Benjamin Franklin

Full Name: Mr. Benjamin Franklin
Date of Birth: January 17, 1706
Place of Birth: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Died: April 17, 1790
Place of Death: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Classification: Leaders & Revolutionaries

Known as the “First American”, Benjamin Franklin was an inventor, scientist, civil servant, diplomat, philosopher, musician, lucrative businessman, writer, and a well-to-do publisher. Although he was one of twenty children and couldn’t afford to go to school past the age of ten, Franklin would become one of the most famous Americans of his time and one of the most staunch advocates for American Independence once he learned that Britain would not repeal their tax laws.

Young Benjamin learned printing at a young age from his older brother. Benjamin’s father wanted him to join the church and sent Benjamin to different religious schools. However, Franklin was more interested in following his older brother’s footsteps and learning more about printing. Later, he wrote under a pen name that represented the opinions of an old widowed woman in the colonies.

By the time Franklin was 17, he was tired of his father’s plans for his own life. So, he ran away to Philadelphia, a city where Franklin believed he could start his life over again the way he saw fit. He worked in the field that he knew best, namely in publishing. Franklin then went to London to work as a compositor in a print shop, and some years later returned to the United States to work as a bookkeeper for a merchant business.

Franklin soon set up his own printing house, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette, where he became quite wealthy. His wealth grew exponentially when he began publishing the Poor Richard’s Almanac, which offered meteorological predictions, daily quotes, and readings, something that other almanacs did not provide. He also published Father Abraham’s Sermon. The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, entitled Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School, has also seen success even to this day.

After making a few more profitable business negotiations, Franklin worked more on his inventions and theories of electricity, where he proved that lighting was in fact an electrical current of charged static that could be grounded and even stored. From this, he invented the lighting rod and thought about rudimentary batteries. Following, he invented eyeglasses, efficient wood-burning stoves, and lots of other inventions that he didn’t copyright, but left open for the public good. He also founded the first fire department of the colonies in Philadelphia, and set up the American Philosophical Society.

Franklin began getting more involved in politics and was sent to Britain and France as a diplomat and envoy to help iron out the different taxes that Britain was levying on its territories. When Britain refused, Franklin became an advocate for the formation of an independent nation. As the War of Independence began, Franklin alone was able to get the French to aid the newly formed United States’ purpose. In his later years, he fought for the abolition of slavery and set up trusts that would fund colleges and public works programs for the next two centuries.

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Aristotle

Full Name: Mr. Aristotle
Date of Birth: 384 B.C.
Place of Birth: Chalcidice, Greece
Died: 322 B.C.
Place of Death: Chalcis, Greece
Classification: Scientists & Thinkers

Known as one of the greatest philosophers of all time and the father of Western thought, Aristotle laid down methods that would lead to the postulation of the Scientific Method. Aristotle learned philosophy from Plato, but upon leaving Plato’s academy, he traveled far and wide to learn more about the world around him, about human nature, God, and the natural world. He would later open up his own school to teach students how to truly think in the greatest abstract sense – something only humans are capable of doing, and something that once honed, can bring true happiness.

The young Aristotle was brought up as a social elite in the most northern Greek region. His father was known as Nicomachus and was a scientist and a physician with elite connections within the country. Aristotle was able to explore his own interests in science and nature as a young lad, but never found a calling to practice medicine, as his father would have liked.

At the age of only 17, Aristotle went to Athens, the center of thought, to study under the famed Plato. He and Plato found a fondness in each other’s philosophical abilities that had previously been unmatched. For twenty years, the two remained together, content to debate, theorize, and delve deeper into the outer limits of human abstract thinking. They would talk, debate, and discuss about politics, science, the natural world, and about God. Upon Plato’s death, the bereaving Aristotle moved to Mysia and was well kept by Herias, the ruler and king of Atarneus. The Persians killed Herias and Aristotle was forced to move again.

Some years later in Macedon, Aristotle tutored the young Alexander, who would later be called Alexander the Great. The education bestowed upon the young Alexander is said to have greatly influenced the way he ran his future empire, once he conquered the Persians. Additionally, some letters remain that show the two continued correspondences even after Aristotle left.

Around 335 B.C., Aristotle returned to Athens. He formed a school and a gymnasium for his pupils to work out. The school was known as Lyceum and was founded on many of the same principles that Plato had run his academy. Even though the two had wide-ranging differences in their later debates and thoughts, Plato still had a great impact on the way Aristotle thought, observed, and wrote. The Academy was set up like a modern school: classes in the morning and afternoon. Students ate together and spent time in common areas. He even constructed an impressive library where he kept some of his own writings. He wrote much in the way of science, philosophy, and politics, but not much survived. The effect that Aristotle had on Western thought is immeasurable and many educational systems and philosophies have derived from his foundations.

Andrew Carnegie

Full Name: Mr. Andrew Carnegie
Date of Birth: November 25, 1835
Place of Birth: Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
Died: August 11, 1919
Place of Death: Lenox, Massachusetts, USA
Classification: Builders & Titans

Regarded as one of the fathers of modern, efficient industry, Andrew Carnegie worked his way up the corporate ladder, all while buying and trading stocks in various companies. As a result, he became one of the richest men in the world and thereafter devoted most of his time and wealth to philanthropy.

Born in Scotland, Carnegie’s father was plagued by not being able to earn enough to support his family. He and his family immigrated to the United States in the latter 1840s, where they joined other Scottish relatives in a colony set up in Pennsylvania. Young Andrew’s first job was in a cotton factory, but he still pursued his own self-education by going to night school and reading on his breaks during the day. Within only a few years, he worked his way up in the railroad industry and began investing all he could into other areas of industry, including bridge and furnace companies.

Andrew Carnegie, more than any other, jumped on the opportunity that presented itself in the world of steel. He predicted America could outdo Britain in its production and thereby create an even greater world market for the product. After managing the Keystone Bridge Company, Carnegie eventually opened the Carnegie Steel Company, which used the newest technologies to rapidly and efficiently produce steel in bulk. Included in his company’s arsenal, were new ways to keep track of accounting – making sure that spending, profits, and investments were continually monitored.

Carnegie began buying the ore-fields where the steel was harvested. This allowed him to control all the steps from the gathering to the final output – saving even more time and money by eliminating any middlemen who would keep the price of ore at higher levels.

Within only a few years, other companies were forced to take notice and notes on Carnegie’s methods. In 1901, Carnegie sold his company, in which he owned well over 50% of the stock for 250 million dollars, which in modern times would be worth several billion. With the Carnegie Steel Company behind him, he devoted his time to philanthropy and encouraged other wealthy members of society to do the same.

He also wrote about political and social issues of the time and even published his most famous article entitled “Wealth” in the North American Review. The autobiography of Andrew Carnegie was published in 1920, following several other books. Carnegie set up several educational trusts in the USA and in Britain, devoting hundreds of millions of dollars to each.

Amadeo Giannini

Full Name: Mr. Amadeo Pietro Giannini
Date of Birth: June 5, 1870
Place of Birth: San Jose, California, USA
Died: March 6, 1949
Place of Death: San Francisco, California, USA
Classification: Builders & Titans

Known to always cater to the needs of his customers, even if it meant giving loans on a handshake, Amadeo Giannini revolutionized the banking practices of the 19 th and 20 th centuries. A natural businessman who would do anything to make a deal, Giannini built an empire by going after a clientele neglected in the banking world – the hardworking middle-class citizen.

Born to Italian immigrants in California, Amadeo Giannini had to quit school early so he could work with his stepfather selling produce at their store. Since his father had been killed in a brawl before his eyes, Amadeo realized life was too short to not take chances. And, chances he took. In fact, he was made a partner in the business and retired from his store in his early thirties by selling his share to his employees.

Upon his retirement, Giannini was asked if he would be willing to join an advisory board for a bank that catered to Italian-Americans. When he did, he came up with the idea of offering services to the hard-working classes so they could start their own businesses, buy a house, a car, or reach their dreams. When other board members didn’t agree – believing that the business of banking was only for the rich – he left and started his own bank in a converted saloon he purchased. He even hired one of the bartenders to be its first teller.

On the first day, deposits totaled almost nine thousand dollars, an unbelievable amount back in 1904. As his bank grew and word of his honest practices spread through different communities, he gained many loyal customers and would do anything to seal a deal with them. It is also documented that he would do anything to beat his competitors, even if it meant riding a horse, swimming through a pond, and running a long distance just to obtain a signature, which actually happened.

The Bank of Italy soon became the Bank of America in 1928 when Giannini bought the old bank from New York. He brought all his banks under that one name. As his bank grew, he started opening up branches all around California and eventually all over the United States. Surviving the Great Depression and following his same goals, the Bank of America became the most expansive and richest bank in the world. For someone who always followed his dreams and held strong to his convictions, Amadeo Giannini is whom we have to thank for the modern way banks cater to each and every person, no matter their wealth.

Alfred Bernhard Nobel

Full Name: Mr. Alfred Bernhard Nobel
Date of Birth: October 21, 1833
Place of Birth: Stockholm, Sweden
Died: December 10, 1896
Place of Death: Sanremo, Italy
Classification: Scientists & Thinkers

Recognized as the one of the most significant people in the world, Alfred Nobel would leave a legacy that recognized incredible feats made in the fields of science, literature, and peace. But, his legacy would be built on an empire of explosives, where Nobel made millions manufacturing, distributing, and selling dynamite and other explosives worldwide.

After living in St. Petersburg, Russia during his childhood, young Alfred witnessed what his older brother and father had attempted to do – manufacture safe explosives that could be shipped and used safely around the entire world. It should be noted that their goals were not to aid countries in war, per se, but to help those countries better their own infrastructure and wealth with tunnels, roads, and mining. Accidents from explosives took millions of lives and the Nobel family worked hard to manufacture safer methods for their use.

In Heleneborg, where the family’s factory was located, an explosion killed Alfred’s younger brother and numerous workers. From then on, Alfred knew he would work to make explosives safe. He knew his and his family’s work were cutting-edge and all he would have to do was to better their research and findings.

Alfred Nobel figured out nitroglycerin could be developed so it wasn’t so volatile, and in 1867 he patented his invention he dubbed “dynamite” – a mixture of nitroglycerin and natural elements of the Earth. He also invented the lesser-known Gelignite. Made with nitroglycerin and gun-cotton, it was much more powerful than dynamite. But, it was dynamite that was safer and what he would mass market, setting up factories worldwide.

The Nobel Peace Prize came about when Alfred Nobel was reported dead in a French newspaper. While he didn’t die, his obituary called him “The Merchant of Death” due to his involvement in producing dynamite and other explosives that had been used for industry and war. Upon reflection, Nobel decided to set up a fund where the majority of his estate would go to fund the newly devised awards in different fields. Open to some interpretation, the prizes are the most distinguished and recognized today. The award for literature was Nobel’s fondest. His own play entitled Nemesis, a tragedy, was published posthumously and was released only in Swedish-Esperanto.

Alexander Graham Bell

Full Name: Mr. Alexander Graham Bell
Date of Birth: March 3, 1847
Place of Birth: Edinburgh, Scotland
Died: August 2, 1922
Place of Death: Nova Scotia, Canada
Classification: Scientists & Thinkers

Although the debate whether he actually invented the telephone has lasted for over 75 years, Alexander Graham Bell devised over fifty other inventions that were well ahead of their time. Upon patenting his telephone, Bell set up the Bell Telephone Company where he would make millions, becoming one of the richest men alive during his time.

Born in Scotland and moving to Canada as a young adult, he always worked on his ideas of elocution, or a way the deaf could use sound waves and lip movements to understand the speech of those around them. Both his mother and sister were deaf, which inspired him to work hard to meet his dream so deaf people would be assimilated into society, just as anyone else might.

Upon graduating at the age of 13 from the Royal High School of Edinburgh, he became a student and a teacher at Weston House Academy in Scotland. By the time he was in his early twenties, he had already immigrated with his family to Canada and was teaching his theories on ‘visible speech’ in Montreal with his father. After visiting Boston then being invited to teach at Boston University School of Oratory, he became a U.S. citizen and pursued his goals of bringing his ideas about communication to the masses.

As Alexander Graham Bell worked on ways that human vocals and musical instruments could pass electronically through a transmitter, he applied for a patent for the telephone, even though Meucci had invented it five years prior but wasn’t wealthy enough to pay for the patent. Meucci took Bell to court, but could not afford a proper legal team to take the case full on. Bell had the means to take the telephone to the next level by marketing it successfully.

Bell then continued to work more on sound and even devised a way for magnets to be used on a type of record that could record human sounds. He was only a few steps away from discovering the first tape recorder. Additionally, he invented the first air-conditioning, thought of solar paneling for the storage of energy, and even worked on toilets that would compost human waste. He is also credited with the rudimentary design of fiber optics, the betterment of hydrofoil boats and planes, a means of alternative fuels, and a design for a respirator.

Although the autobiography of Alexander Graham Bell was never compiled, several biographies exist. As an inventor and one who believed that those with disabilities, namely the deaf, should not be marginalized from society, but should integrate, he was ahead of his time. His inventions are still used today by billions. Every time a phone rings, every time we store data, and every time we use a fiber optic network, we can thank Alexander Graham Bell’s ingenious innovations.

Akio Morita

Full Name: Mr.Akio Morita
Date of Birth: January 26, 1921
Place of Birth: Nagoya, Japan
Died: October 3, 1999
Place of Death: Tokyo, Japan
Classification: Builders & Titans

With a global vision where Sony would be a common household name, Akio Morita founded a company that was not only to become one of the most powerful business entities in Japan or the United States, but in the world. With ingenuity in the design of electronics and cutting-edge business practices, it did not take long to see how or why his visions all became reality.

Akio Morita was brought up in Japan in a family of sake brewers, which is an alcoholic beverage made of rice. Taught to work hard while learning about the family business from a very young age, Morita learned how his father had kept the business going, even during hard times. And, since his family’s business was successful, Morita was exposed to some aspects of western culture – namely the phonograph and automobile. It was said that when he was little, young Akio would take apart the family’s phonograph and put it back together again simply because he was fascinated with it.

Expected to take over the family business after studying in Osaka, Morita instead became a Lieutenant in the Navy. Japan was deeply involved in the Pacific War and the Navy’s Wartime Research Committee recruited Morita. While serving, Morita met the now famous Masaru Ibuka, who was to eventually co-found Sony Corporation with Morita.

Following the war, Akio Morita decided not to pursue further education at the prestigious Tokyo Institute of Technology, but instead worked with Ibuku to found Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, which would later be renamed Sony due to the difficulty for foreigners to pronounce the name and its limited connotation as an electronics producer. Morita and Ibuku felt the company should keep its eyes on the horizon, going global onto the New York Stock Exchange some years later. Eventually, Sony Corporation would invest in insurance companies, movie studios, and other prominent corporations in the USA, UK, and Europe.

Later in his career, Akio Morita was awarded the Albert Medal from the UK’s Royal Society of Arts. Following, he was awarded the National Order of the Legion of Honor in France, and the precious First Class Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Emperor of Japan. Throughout his life, he always maintained an honest business policy that has set the international precedent for decades. While Akio Morita never authored his own autobiography, he did release a book entitled Never Mind School Records, which appealed to the minds of young entrepreneurs to follow their dreams, no matter what any institution says is not possible. He invited anyone to follow his life as an amazing example of someone who succeeded with his own ideas even when others believed he never would.

Alan Turing

Full Name: Mr. Alan Mathison Turing
Date of Birth: June 23, 1912
Place of Birth: London, England
Died: June 7, 1954
Place of Death: Cheshire, England
Classification: Scientists & Thinkers

Contributing to mathematics, statistics, logic, philosophy, biology, cognitive science, and as the founder of computer science, Alan Turing revolutionized cryptanalysis and the ideas of the day about the possibility of machines becoming sentient. Elected as an esteemed member of the Fellow of the Kings at age 22, all while attending King’s College and inventing his famed Turing-Machine, he would soon be labeled as the greatest code breaker of all time.

Soon after college, Turing began working with mathematician Alonzo Church. Together, the two devised the Turing-Church Thesis. In their time spent together and while working independently, the two were able show that not all math is solvable using effective methods. In the mid-1930s, it was believed that the goal of mathematics was to find an absolute or pure system in which one could plug any formula or equation and it could be proven true to untrue. Turing and Church disproved Hilton’s reigning theory that math would ‘perfect’ itself to an extent – that all problems have a definite solution.

While working on his doctorate under Church, Turing began to theorize that oracular computation could be used as an abstract method to solve mathematical problems too difficult for the Turing Machine.

Upon returning to England with the brink of World War II on the horizon, Alan Turing joined the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. While there, he worked on electro-mechanical machines that could be used to decipher the puzzles and codes that were being communicated between England’s war enemies – namely the Nazis. It was in his ability to decipher codes called ‘bombes’ that he was given full security clearance to pursue and perfect his machine. In doing so, Turing’s machine, using binary codes, was able to break nearly 50,000 messages a month – some that Hitler communicated to the German High Command. It is believed that Turing’s machine alone helped end World War II by at least two to more than four years. Some say it would have been impossible to stop Germany without it. For his wartime efforts, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire.

Following the war, Turing worked for the National Physical Laboratory in England. While there, Turing actually designed an electronic digital computer storage center that many call the first true modern computer design. He theorized that speed faster than any human computation and a vast memory storage base were essential to its design. It was his later work with the Ferranti Mark I computer that made computers commercially available. He began working on artificial intelligence, believing that the human brain is actually a universal computer that is programmed after birth. At the height of his work in Artificial Intelligence, Turing suddenly died after he ate an apple laced with cyanide. Investigations have concluded it was suicide, while his family and colleagues claim otherwise.

Albert Einstein

Full Name: Mr. Albert Einstein
Date of Birth: March 14, 1879
Place of Birth: Ulm, Württemberg, Germany
Died: April 18, 1955
Place of Death: Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Classification: Scientists & Thinkers

Receiving a compass at the age of five from his father ignited the passion to learn about the invisible forces of nature in young Albert Einstein. As the compass pointed northward, he gasped in disbelief that something unseen should have such a profound affect. From that time on, his voracious appetite involving the physical world around him would control his destiny.

As a calm, collect and patient child, Einstein spent long hours reading books. He also attended a Catholic elementary school, even though his family was of Jewish descent. Further enhancing his intellectual upbringing, his uncles provided him with books on philosophy, math, and science. With a fortitude in science and math coupled with an open-minded upbringing in education, Einstein taught himself Euclidean Geometry and Calculus before the age of fourteen. At the age of 16, after quitting school he came up with one of his first theories of light and relativity – that the speed of light is separate from the observer – as he looked into a mirror, an experiment often dubbed “Albert Einstein’s Mirror”.

After finishing secondary school, Albert attended the Federal Polytechnic Institute and went on to teach there in 1900. After his teaching sting, Einstein went on to work for the Swiss Patent Office where he would examine other’s applications. He soon married Mileva Marić who, as it has been often debated, collaborated or was at least influential on Einstein’s publications.

Just five years later, Einstein obtained his doctorate from the University of Zurich with his theory about the molecular dimensions. In this same year, he published four groundbreaking papers. In these papers, he discusses the photoelectric effect (for which he would be awarded a Nobel Prize), relativity, and the movement of molecules. But, by 1911, Einstein was focusing more on his theories of relativity, which would only be measurable during a solar eclipse. Scientists and physicists all around the globe stood by to wait for the measurable outcome that would prove that light could bend in a gravitational field. Einstein’s theory proved correct, which would solidify his place as the world’s top physicists.

Albert Einstein received more honorary doctorate degrees than can be counted on both hands. For his work in science, mathematics, and philosophy, Einstein not only became a popular icon of the time, which included recognition of his famed E=MC2 theory, but gave him the freedom to work and lecture in the United States, where he became a citizen.

Albert Einstein rejected violent governments and renounced his own nationality on more than two occasions while living in Europe. During Germany’s rise to power, before World War II, Einstein and other scientists knew it was using Uranium in an attempt to make an atomic weapon. Although not directly involved in its manufacturing, Einstein’s theories of molecular movement and energy were used to create the first atomic weapon, dubbed the “Manhattan Project” for the United States.

While no one biography written about Einstein could cover all his contributions to science and humanity, the impact he had over mankind is undisputed. In the mid-1900s, Einstein was invited to become the second president of Israel, which he declined in order to remain in the United States to continue his studies. He did, however, help establish the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. And, even though he died in 1955, Albert Einstein was named Person of the Century by TIME Magazine in 1999.

Leo Baekeland

Full Name: Dr. Leo Hendrik Baekeland
Date of Birth: November 14, 1863
Place of Birth: Ghent, Belgium
Died: February 23, 1944
Place of Death: Beacon, New York, USA
Classification: Builders & Titans

Inventing a material used in nearly every imaginable industry in the early to mid 1900s, Leo Baekeland never gave up his dream of creating a moldable polymer that would keep its form after it cooled. His invention was the first time plastic or Bakelite, as it was known, would be used, mass marketed, and used to make the outer casings of such objects as radios, seats, and even toys.

Born in Belgium to a lower, middle-class family, Leo Baekeland would study at the University of Ghent in 1882 and eventually graduate with a doctorate in natural science at the age of 21. He taught there for several years before he traveled on a scholarship to the United States. Once in the United States, he decided he wanted to reside there, so he obtained a job as a scientist for a company and began his work in American industry.

Leo started working on better photographic paper. He wanted to find something more durable, less flammable, and a paper where the pictures developed on them were sharper. He did so well in the beginning that he started a company called Nepera Chemical Company while creating a special paper called Velox. Within two years, Kodak, which was known as Eastman Kodak, purchased the rights to Baekeland’s discovery for over one million dollars.

Being the inventor at heart that he was, Baekeland opened up his own research laboratory in his backyard in New York. He worked day and night at creating a material that would perform like shellac, which was a natural residue that was used as a plastic. By mixing formaldehyde and phenolic solutions, he came up with Bakelite. The secret was that at a high temperature and pressure, the resulting material would hold its form, even under high heat.

Leo Baekeland soon patented his material, formed Baekeland Industries, and began marketing it in various industrial fields. Through Baekeland’s work, industry now knew that science could work together to better the materials used, no matter what the industry. Baekeland’s work created lighter, safer, and better materials that we still use today. Whether we are listing to a radio, driving down the road, or drinking from our plastic bottles, we can thank a man who had the foresight and forthright to pursue what he dreamed was possible.

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