Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American
industrialist and business magnate. As founder of the Ford
Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making cars
affordable for middle-class Americans through the Fordism
system.
In 1911, he was awarded a patent for the transmission
mechanism that would be used in the Model T and other
automobiles. Ford was 83.
On April 4, 1975, at a time when most Americans used typewriters, childhood friends Bill Gates (68) and Paul Allen (1953 – 2018)
found Microsoft, a company that makes computer software.
Originally based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Microsoft relocated
to Washington State in 1979 and eventually grew into a major multinational technology corporation. In 1987, the year after
Microsoft went public, 31-year-old Gates became the world’s
youngest billionaire.
Gates and Allen started Microsoft—originally called Micro-Soft,
for microprocessors and software—in order to produce software
for the Altair 8800 (below) an early personal computer.
Historians will likely view Bill Gates as a business figure as important to computers as John D. Rockefeller was to oil.
For over 150 years, Swift & Company has been providing quality
beef and pork products under superior brand names to consumers nationwide.
The Swift & Company tradition began with Mr. Gustavus Swift
when he purchased a calf for $20.00 and sold the meat to his
neighbors. Mr. Swift’s innovative thinking was only the beginning.
Today, Swift & Company is an industry leader in fresh ideas,
products and technology with headquarters in Greeley, Colorado.
Gustavus Franklin Swift, Sr.
(June 24, 1839 – March 29, 1903)
Larry Shaw (1939 – 2017) the founder of Pi Day, at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.
Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant
π (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14 (the 3rd month) since
3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant figures of π, and it
was first celebrated in the United States. It was founded in
1988 by Larry Shaw a physicist at the San Francisco science
museum, the Exploratorium. Celebrations often involve eating
pie or holding pi recitation competitions. In 2009, the United
States House of Representatives supported the designation
of Pi Day.
On February 21, 1948, the National Association for Stock Car
Racing—or NASCAR, as it came to be widely known—was
officially incorporated. NASCAR racing went on to become
one of America’s most popular spectator sports, as well as
a multi-billion-dollar industry.
The driving force behind the establishment of NASCAR was
William “Bill” France Sr. (1909-1992), a mechanic and auto-
repair shop owner from Washington, D.C., who in the mid-
1930s moved to Daytona Beach, Florida to escape the Great
Depression .
Bill France as a racer.
After a short racing career, Bill France realized that
organizing races is business for him.
Bill France on the construction site of the Daytona
International Speedway.
