3. Henry Ford

Car Manufacturer and Entrepreneur

Born in Michigan, Ford is considered to be the greatest and one of the most successful American industrialists in the history. The early demise of his mother and the constant pressure from his father to join him in farming, led Ford to run away from home and hence bar him from further education. Ford started doing small time jobs in various places in America and became an apprentice in machinery in Detroit with Flowers and Brothers.

The major breakthrough in his career came in 1891 after he joined as an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company. Five years from then he would put all his engineering skills into work and design the first ever primitive model of a car that is called the Ford Quadricycle. Due to constant encouragement from Thomas Alva Edison he finally designed the improved version of the Quadricycle and went on to build his own industrial empire.