Founder of the Ford Motor Company and maker of the Model T [the machine that changed the world], Henry Ford became the world’s most famous automobile manufacturer. He began his career as a machinist apprentice, but at age 30 demonstrated his mechanical inventiveness with the construction of a single-cylinder gasoline-powered vehicle.

Ten years later, in 1903, he founded the Ford Motor Company and began to develop assembly-line techniques to produce an affordable automobile. The result was the four-cylinder Model T Ford, and by 1914 it had captured nearly half the U.S. automobile market.

Ford’s early reputation as a good employer, who introduced a 5 dollars minimum wage. Was subsequently tarnished during the 1920s and 1930s, when he began to employ labor spies at his plants and sanctioned violence against union organizers. His enduring achievement was, within his own lifetime, to make automobile ownership possible for millions around the world.

Walt Disney, animator and film producer, 1901-1966

The popularity of characters such as Mickey Mouse brought Walt Disney fortune as well as fame. His first full-length animated feature, ‘’Snow White and Seven Dwarfs’’ 1937, broke box office recorders, grossing over 8 million dollars during the year of its release.

Disney was only 14 years old when he enrolled in the Kansas City Art Institute. After driving an ambulance in France during the last months of World War I, he returned to Kansas City where he met fellow artist Ub lowers. Soon they were drawing animated ‘’shorts’’ and selling them to local theaters. But their first company went bankrupt, and they didn’t move to Hollywood until 1923 with the creation in 1928 of Steamboat Willie, which later became Mickey Mouse, their troubles ended. Mickey started in more than 100 films between 1928 and 1940, and a menagerie of characters followed, including Donald Duck and Goofy. In the 1950s Disney diversified into television and fantasy theme parks. The company continues to make successful films and expand its business empire.

Diana, Princess of Wales, royal figurehead and charity campaigner, 1961-1997

Honored as the ‘’The People’s Princess’’ by the masses who paid tribute to after her death, Diana, Princess of Wales is remembered for both her own troubled life and her ability to reach out to others in need.

Diana left school at age 16, spent a brief spell at a Swiss finishing school, and returned to England to work as a kindergarten teacher before marrying Prince Charles, their to the British throne, in 1981. Subsequent years saw the shy, demure Diana grow into an outwardly confident and stylish woman, whose work for charities and other causes brought her international recognition. But an inner sadness was chronicled with revelation of depression, eating disorders, and suicide attempts. By the end of 1992, Diana and Charles were separated, they divorced in 1996. in 1997, the deaths of Diana and her new companion Dodi Fayed in a car crash in Paris sent the world into shock and grief. Her funeral was watched on television by an estimated 2.5 billion people.