entrepreneur, industrial contractorBorn: 5/9/1882Birthplace: Sprout Brook, N.Y. Kaiser seemed to have a knack for being at the right place at the right time, winning government contracts to build…
railroad developer, financierBorn: 5/8/1821Birthplace: New Brunswick, N.J. Being the son of Cornelius Vanderbelt did little to secure William a job in the family empire. His father regarded him as…
bankerBorn: 1868Birthplace: Medfield, Mass. Considered somewhat of a Wunderkind when he became youngest vice president ever at Chase National Bank at 36, he had already helped to organize the…
British newsagentBorn: 1792 He got his start selling newspapers in his father's business in 1812 with his brother Henry Edward. They moved beyond their father's Strand shop using railways and fast…
ironmaster, glassmakerBorn: 5/13/1729 Birthplace: Cologne, Germany He emigrated to Philadelphia in 1750, and established iron forges in Lancaster and Berks Counties, Pennsylvania. Profits from the…
zoologistBorn: 1867Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio Although he held a doctorate from the University of Chicago, zoologist Charles Henry Turner chose to teach at high schools so he could devote more…
economist, publisherBorn: 12/15/1793Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pa. Having foregone college to get an early start in his father's publishing business, he became a partner by age 24. He educated…
capitalist, philanthropistBorn: 1/2/1830Birthplace: Hopewell, N.Y. After modest success in the grain business, in 1865 he joined John D. Rockefeller in the oil business in a firm called…
U.S. government official; civil rights advocate Born: November 17, 1904Birthplace: Knoxville, Tennessee Hastie received a BA from Amherst, where he finished first in his class, and then received a…
Born: 1866Birthplace: Belleville, Ontario Process of extracting bromine—Dow invented an entirely new method of extracting bromine from underground brine. (1983)Died: 1930
