I’m trying to find examples of people who have helped change the world with little or no formal training. Perhaps they even did badly in school (i.e. Einstein), yet still had the inate intelligence to revolutionize their field.
I’m looking to include them as a few examples at the begining of a paper I’m going to write.
Wasn’t Henry Ford a high school dropout?
Well, one example would be Ramanujan. He recently got a (fictionalized) plug in the movie Good Will Hunting, for being an unschooled genius.
In looking for the above link, I also found that there is a Ramanujan Journal, evidentially dedicated to the math he helped inspire. It is well above my level of mathematical understanding though.
Not saying this is “innate intelligence” though.
I heartily recommend reading “Connections” or “The Day the Universe Changed” by James Burke. I think he still has a column in Scientific American. He chronicles the innovations that have changed our world. Often these innovations are the result of unexepected insight by the same people you’re looking for - unprepared, unskilled, little or no training - who made remarkable or fortuitous discoveries. The books are eminently readable.
On a related note, there’s very little correlation between education and success (although it doesn’t necessarily hurt). A modern interpretation can be found in “The Millionaire Mind” by Thoms Stanley.
The people who are successful and innovators in their field are “Risk Takers” (capitalization intentional). It’s more about personality than pedigree.
To add an example to the mix, take the much-maligned Bill Gates. He took a big risk dropping out of Harvard, but his ideas and killer business isntinct changed the world. (For better or worse we’ll leave to GD).
Steve Jobs - college dropout.
Bill Gates - ditto
John Harrison, inventor of the sea clock and thus the first truly reliable means of navigation, was a carpenter.
Failed link is http://homepages.enterprise.net/rogerp/harrison.html
Thomas Edison had only a few months of formal schooling.
Ender, this might not help you with your paper, but it might interest you.