Kelly Johnson designed the Blackbird, a plane that flew non-stop from London to Los Angeles in less than four hours, outracing the sun and landing four hours before it had taken off, a remarkable feat--and this was more than 35 years ago. Johnson was the innovative genius behind Lockheed's "Skunk Works," and played a leading role in the development of more than forty aircraft, including some of America's most sophisticated planes. In 2003, as part of its commemoration of the 100th a...

Famed aviation pioneer Donald Douglas once said "Every airplane flying today has some Jack Northrop in it." Northrop was an aviation genius who was more interested in developing new technology than selling airplanes or making a fortune. The Northrop story is the story of American aviation history; he worked with the Loughead brothers (who changed their name to Lockheed) and Donald Douglas designing some of America's greatest airplanes from the Vega to the DC-3 and ultimately to the most ...

Biographical profile of Steve Jobs the founder of Apple Computers and the man who led an evolution in American technology and culture. He ushered in the world of personal computing with the Apple and Mac line of computers changed the way we buy and listen to music with the iPod iTunes and the iTunes Store introduced us to a new wave of animated films and technology through Pixar with such hits as "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo" and gave us a new paradigm for mobile telep...

Jack Warner epitomized the great Hollywood studio chief. He was admired as much as he was feared, engaged in battles with some of Hollywood's greatest legends from Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney to Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis. Under his tutelage Warner Bros. gave us some of the most memorable and iconic movies, including The Jazz Singer, Casablanca, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Damn Yankees and My Fair Lady. Warner was an astute businessman and a prodigious gambler; his footfa...

Mark Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old founder of Facebook, is the youngest self-made billionaire in history. He is also considered by many to be one of the most influential persons in the information age. His impact on American culture is virtually unprecedented. The recent film, "Social Network" does not portray him in the kindest light, but is it a work of fact or fiction? Separating fiction from fact, award-winning author Daniel Alef, tell the true story of Zuckerberg's meteoric rise and h...

On Jan. 2, 1910, leading aviators from around the globe converged on Dominguez Hills near Los Angeles for the Los Angeles Air Meet. During the 10-day event, 226,000 spectators saw a dazzling display of airplanes and flight. Many world records were shattered; one pilot soared to 4,164 feet, while Glenn Curtiss hit a blistering 55 mph with a passenger on board. The planes so fascinated one onlooker, 29-year-old William Edward Boeing, that he left a lucrative business and embarked on a new caree...

In 1894, Will K. Kellogg was experimenting with a more digestible form of wheat for patients at his brother John's Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan. Will mixed a wheat paste and accidentally let it stand overnight. In the morning he took the tempered remains, put them through a roller, and each grain emerged as a wide, thin flake. The flakes were a big hit with the patients -- C.W. Post, a future cereal tycoon, among them. This was the seed from which one of the largest food empires on the...

New Enhanced Digital EditionAlthough Margaret "The Unsinkable Molly" Brown is well known for her heroic efforts in surviving the Titanic disaster that historic event doesn't begin to reveal the full measure of who she was or what she accomplished during her fascinating life. And Margaretthe name "Molly" was a Hollywood inventionwas the subject of as many myths as Aesop had fables. The real Margaret Brown is often obscured by her characterization in blockbusters such as "Titanic" and of c...

Biographical profile of Cornelius Vanderbilt entrepreneur shipping and railroad magnate and one of the wealthiest and best known tycoons in American history. Uneducated and coming from a poor background Vanderbilt built an empire beginning with sailboats before graduating to steamships. His shipping interests extended from California to Europe generating substantial income for the gruff tall and unbending titan. When American railroads began their spread westward Vanderbilt decided to control...

Biographical profile of EstéeLauder who combined charm, gall and a ferocious ambition to create one of the great empires in cosmetics and perfumes. Estéee was never able to shed her roots in Queens, NY, and perhaps this is what made her such a successful entrepreneur, one who mingled and rubbed elbows with heads of state, celebrities and royalty while making her way to star status and becoming a billionaire.She was as outrageous as she was brilliant, a marketing and sales genius who understoo...

New Enhanced Digital EditionRay Kroc's remarkable rise to the top of the food chain--fast foods that is--began at a later age than most successful entrepreneurs at age 52. The former salesman of Multimixer milkshake machines heard about the McDonald brothers' restaurant in Southern California an eatery serving 15-cent hamburgers and 10-cent fries and making 40 milkshakes at a time. Sensing its potential Kroc began to franchise the operation ultimately bought out the McDonald brother...

A biographical profile of Charles Lindbergh, the American Lone Eagle. Lindbergh was not ready for stardom, and therein lies the story, like a quintessential Greek tragedy where the hero suffers a serious misfortune which is connected to his actions, demonstrating humankind's vulnerability to suffering brought about by human and divine intervention. Lindbergh became interested in flight when airplanes were mystical; few people had seen one and even fewer had ever been on one. Although 81 pilot...