Jon M. Huntsman, Sr.

Fred Kavli

The term "Renaissance Man" tends to be overused, but in Fred Kavli's case, it's doubly appropriate. Starting out at age 14 as an inventor and entrepreneur in the midst of World War II, he went on to become a physicist, investor and businessman. And through his philanthropic work, he is laying the foundations for a new renaissance of 21st century scientific research and discovery.

Michael S. Dell

If things had gone differently, Michael Dell might have been a physician. Instead, a casual activity he took up in college, while still enrolled in a pre-med program at the University of Texas at Austin, set him on a wholly different path—making him one of the world's most successful businesspeople and philanthropists and leader of one of America's top computer companies.

John Chambers

William W. George

Frederick Smith

As ubiquitous as FedEx is today, delivering packages to some 220 countries, at amazingly quick speeds, it's hard to remember that the idea of guaranteed overnight delivery was unthinkable when Fred Smith first conceived of it. Anticipating the digital revolution and using the teamwork skills he learned in the marines, Smith took a fantastical concept and turned it into a Fortune 500 company.

T. Boone Pickens

William H. Gates

David Todd Kearns

Former CEO and Chairman of Xerox Corporation, David Kearns served as Deputy Secretary of Education in the first Bush Administration and was the founder of the New American Schools Development Corporation (now New American Schools, with 2,400 participating schools). Kearns was the co-author of Winning The Brain Race, and A Legacy of Learning.

Mr. Kearns earned an undergraduate degree in business administration in 1952 from the University of Rochester.

Information as of 1991

Arnold O. Beckman

Arnold O. Beckman invented scientific instruments that revolutionized the study and understanding of human biology.

Dr. Beckman, born in 1900, developed a love for science at a young age, sparked by reading an old chemistry textbook. He pursued his interest in science at the University of Illinois, earning a B.S. in chemical engineering in 1922, and then an M.S. in physical chemistry one year later. He obtained his Ph.D. in photochemistry at the California Institute of Technology in 1928, where he also served as a professor.